STIGMATA
by silent-eternity
Summary: Sequel to Legacy. A year after Eggman's end, the remaining heroes have put their lives back together. But who is this new enemy and how is he connected to Sonic and Belial? Forced into a race against time, the heroes must discover the truth, and fast.
1. I Am

Here it is! The sequel to Legacy, so if you haven't read Legacy yet, I suggest you do before reading this, unless you like not understanding things/spoilers.

Disclaimer - I do not own Sonic or any other characters, etc etc, they belong to Sega, bla bla bla.

* * *

**STIGMATA**

**I Am...**

_Fear...._

_Pain..._

_His arm....his arm was gone...red...there had been blood..._

_Eggman...  
_

_He couldn't feel his legs..._

_He briefly wondered what had happened, where was he?_

_Was he..._

_Was he...dead..?_

_He strained to open his eyes..._

_Blackness...a void...nothing, not the slightest thing..._

_Had he even opened his eyes..?_

_His head was pounding..._

_There was something else here..._

_Then he felt it..._

_He was drowning in a sea of power...choking on the raw Chaos of his surroundings..._

_Then he felt IT..._

_The monster...._

_B..._

_Be..._

_BELIAL!_

_That...thing was here!_

_He could sense it!_

_He..._

_Who was HE?_

_'I am...' he thought slowly._

_'I am...someone...'_

_He dimly heard Belial roar...but the monster didn't move, didn't try to attack him..._

_'I am...'_

_His head felt like a supernova, exploding with an unseen power..._

_'I am...'_

_**'You are...'**_

_The voice came from nowhere...._

_**'You are...strange...'**_

_Who was speaking?_

_**'You are merely a rodent...but you are more... You are small, but you are unbeatable... You are the sum, the apex of your universe's evolution...'**_

_It was..._

_It was..._

_It was Belial! The monster was speaking! He spoke without thinking..._

_'I am...evolved..?'_

_**'You are in the winds and the rains of your planet... I could sense it... You are the Chaos...'**_

_'I am Chaos..?'_

_**'You are the cleansing flames, and the healing waters... You are the Chaos...'**_

_'I am...I am Chaos?'_

_**'You are the strength of two universes, you are the embodiment of the void...'**_

_'I am Chaos...'_

_**'You are the power, and the strength and the truth.'**_

_'I am Chaos.'_

_**'You are the Stigmata.'**_

_'I am Chaos!'_

_**'You shall be the instrument of my destiny...'**_

_'I am CHAOS!'_

_He could sense it...the raw Chaos...it was intoxicating!_

_**'You shall be my Stigmata...'**_

_'I shall be the stigmata..?'_

_**'You are the instrument of fate, the hand-tool of a higher purpose...'**_

_'I shall be the winds and rains, the cleansing flames and healing waters! I shall be in the mountains and the rivers! I shall be in the very fabric of their universe! I shall be Chaos and the instrument of fate and destiny!'_

_The void around him seemed to be shrinking away from him...as though scared..._

_**'Yes...you are the Chaos...you are the STIGMATA!'**_

_'I am...'_

_**'You are MY STIGMATA!'**_

_'I am...'_

_'I am...'_

_'I am Chaos! I am the Stigmata!'_

_'I am...'_

_**'You are...'**_

_'I am...'_

_**'Yes...you are my curse...'**_

_There was a strange flash...for a split-second he saw a grotesque visage, a demonic face, horns and flames...but it had once been Mobian..._

_'I am Chaos! I am the Stigmata!'_

_'I am...'_

_'I am...So...'_

_'I am...Soni...'_

_'I am SONIC!!'_

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Dun dun dun! What is happening? Find out later! In some other chapter after this one. As always, please R&R, even if it's criticism! ^^


	2. Apparition

Master Metallix - Yep I saw your review, that's where I actually got stigmata from, I looked up 'Paradise Lost' on wikipedia, a coupla hyperlinks later and I'm reading about Jesus' crucifixation wounds. And since 'stigmata' has a nice ring to it, I couldn't resist writing a sequel named so. ^^

petite-dreamer - Yay for sequels! ^^ (unless they end up worse than the original -_-')

* * *

**Apparition**

There was a slight grey mist that solemnly hung over the small graveyard and its church. A taxi drew up the muddy country lane that led to the chapel, and out of it stepped Amy and Tails. The pink hedgehog was carrying a large bunch of assorted flowers. She faltered for a moment as her dress caught in the cab door. Having tugged it free, she followed Tails up into the dreary cemetery. After a minute or two of trudging through the muddy ground they stopped before a pair of graves. On one of them was craved, in delicate letters, 'Sonic Hedgehog' while the other had had 'Espio' carved into it. No one had known Espio's surname, not even Rouge. They hadn't known much of his past either, for that matter. The chameleon had never been one to talk much about his sighed,

"Well, here we are again Sonic." she slowly placed the flowers onto her hero's grave. Tail stood back, Amy always insisted on speaking to 'Sonic', as though the grave could understand her. After all, Sonic hadn't even been buried there, they had never found his body, it was probably still rotting underneath the desert sands, with Robotnik's. Sonic's 'grave' was only a hole in the ground, with a tombstone placed over.

_Robotnik... _

The kitsune looked over towards the Doctor's grave. A simple stone slab, with the words 'Doctor Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik' roughly carved into it. There was a bouquet of fresh flowers neatly placed on it.

_So Mighty is still visiting his 'father's' grave..._

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind, it didn't matter if Mighty was visiting Eggman's grave. The armadillo might have betrayed them, but he _had_ saved them all after the explosion in Robotnik's desert base. At any rate, he had a right to visit his adopted father's tomb, even if Eggman wasn't actually buried there, only a genetic clone the Doctor had made to escape some thousand-year old prophecy. Even Tails didn't quite understand what it had all been about. Little matter now; it had been over a year ago, and they had lost two friends and had one betray them because of it.

He slowly cast his gaze around the graveyard...and froze at what he saw.

A ghost, a spectre, a hallucination, an apparition.

There, on the other side of the muddy country lane, stood Sonic. The blue hedgehog was smiling, but there was someone strange about that smile, something not quite right, it didn't feel very warm, in fact, it reminded Tails of Eggman's base, clinical, devoid of emotion. He noticed Sonic had a large gash on the side of his head.

But that wasn't all. Sonic had no left arm. Furthermore, his legs seemed....somehow _off_. They looked fine, but there was something _wrong_ about them. The kitsune gave an audible gasp. Amy turned round,

"What is i...." she trailed off, seeing Sonic. For a moment she was speechless, then she cried out, "Sonic! SONIC!"

And then he was gone. They hadn't blinked, they hadn't had time to. He simply vanished, as though he had never been there. The slightest of tremors coursed through the ground. Amy's mouth hung open in shock and sheer surprise. Tails shook his head violently side-to-side,

"Come on." he managed to say, "The cemetery's making us see things."

* * *

A short chapter, setting the scene. As always please review! All comments/criticism welcome! ^^


	3. A Mission?

Master Metallix - The missing arm is basically...not there. Like someone simply got an axe, and sliced it clean through. It's just a straight cut, no blood, gore, anything. And I should have guessed Espio's surname would be 'Nage' ^^

* * *

**A mission..?**

**_2 months ago..._**

Rouge sat in the leather chair with an almost indifferent air as the Commander of G.U.N walked in, sitting in his own, larger, chair. He sighed before speaking,

"Rouge, I'll get straight to the point."

The bat interrupted,

"Good, Commander, I prefer a man who gets down to the...brass tacks."

"Look, we need you for a mission,"

"Obviously, I doubt you needed a hairdresser."

"Let me finish, Rouge. We need you for a _very_ important and _very_ high-risk mission. But..."

Rouge interrupted again,

"But, Commander?"

The Commander ran a hand through his grizzled, greying hair,

"But we are willing to pay..."

Another interruption,

"How much?"

The man didn't say anything, simply passing her a cheque. Rouge read it, and raised her eyebrows in surprise, before feigning indifference,

"Only that much? This isn't even worth my consideration! I want at least twice as much." the bat murred.

The Commander growled slightly,

"No way, Rouge. You know that's enough money for you _and all your friends_ to live as gods 'till you die. And there's no way we'd even _consider_ adding a _cent_ more, let alone_ doubling_ it."

Rouge melodramatically put a hand to her forehead in mock horror,

"You're a cruel man, Commander. I hope you know that."

The 'cruel' Commander in question harrumphed, before continuing,

"Anyway, we need you for this mission, as our best agent. Will you accept?"

"Commander, you haven't even told me what the mission is yet." the bat pointed out, investigating her fingernails.

The aged man shook his head,

"I can't tell you what the mission is unless you accept."

Rouge gave a small chuckle,

"That secret, eh?" she murmured.

A nod from the Commander,

"Only myself; the President, and you are to know of this mission."

Rouge sat motionless for a sort while, pondering the situation. The Commander had made it clear that this was most probably the most dangerous mission she would undertake...and the most lucrative. She remembered, many, many months ago now, when she and Espio had been alone under the twinkling stars, how the chameleon had told her that he himself was considering joining G.U.N as an agent. She recalled how he told her he felt Rouge was perfectly suited for being an agent, how he liked her as an agent. She glanced at her gloves, remembering how they had been smeared with her lover's blood after his death. They were clean now, but the blood on them was still clear in her mind.

She made her mind up.

"I'll do it Commander."

The Commander inclined his head,

"As you want."

He spread out some papers on the table, before the bat before pursuing,

"Now you're to infiltrate a new, shadowy group known only as the 'Molochites'."

"Infiltrating some group? I thought this was a _high-risk_ mission."

The Commander looked her straight in the eye, deadly serious,

"Don't be over-confident, and don't underestimate the danger. We've sent three top-agents on this mission before you, and none of them came back."

Rouge feigned disappointment,

"What? Sending some _rookies_ before me? Whatever _were_ you thinking?"

"Anyway. We've been able to locate a high-ranking Molochite, and we want you to befriend him, and join the organisation. You'll find all you need to know about him in the briefing papers. Once you've done that, you're to report everything you see and hear about them and their activities."

Rouge gave him a coy smile,

"Easy in-easy out, my dear Commander. This'll be a walk in an empty park."

She got up to leave, moving to the door. The Commander stopped her for a moment,

"Rouge, beware of yourself." he sounded deathly serious.

* * *

Dun dun dun! ^^


	4. Midnight Visitor

Master Metallix AKA M2 -Yep, I needed an evil demonic name, and I remembered you mentioned about how Belial was one of Lucifer's lieutenants, and how Moloch was another. Then I found out later that Moloch was also the name of an old Levite god, so I decided it would be perfect for a cult to worship. ^^

revan blackheart - Wait and see, Sonic will come back later in the story. ^^

* * *

**Midnight Visitor...**

Amy stood silently on top of the cliff, a cool soft breeze running through her quills. She shook her head suddenly as she watched the endless sea, surprise and then fear overtaking her. How had she got here? She spun round, gazing across the moorlands that stretched forever on. Just before the cliff end stood a vast expanse of purple flowers. She breathed in deeply, smelling the sweet aroma – lavender. She moved over to the field, plucking a lavender and smelling it deeply, letting the sweet scent calm her. Never mind how she got here. It was a pleasant enough place to be. She started looking round again, pleasant though it was, she needed to know where she was,

"A beautiful place, no?"

She gasped in surprise, the lavender plant fell from her grasp. She twirled round, a red hedgehog, wearing a simple white mask with a red hand imprinted on it, covering his facial features, golden armbands and golden ankle and wrist bracelets. He looked like some tribal leader from Mobius' ancient past. She swallowed, briefly wondering if he was going to kill and eat her, before chiding herself for thinking that, tribes didn't exist, especially not cannibalistic ones, any more, right?

"Who...who are you?" she managed to ask. The hedgehog gave a slight chuckle before speaking,

"My name is something I lost many years ago. I suppose you could call me Ba'al." he had a very charming voice, deep, smooth and silken, but with a rough undercurrent that gave it a unique and beautiful sound. Amy felt herself immediately relax. She cleared her throat,

"What do you want?" she inquired. The hedgehog, Ba'al, did the same half-chuckle before replying,

"Nothing you can give me." he touched a hand to his mask, and whispered, "Except, perhaps, one thing."

"What? What do you want?"

Ba'al shook his head,

"It's nothing, forget I said anything," he murmured, "Sit with me." he moved over to the cliff, sitting down on the very cliff-edge, precariously sat. Amy hesitated, but felt something move her legs, and before she could decide herself whether to sit with him, she was seated besides Ba'al, the two of them gazing out to sea. The red hedgehog cleared his throat,

"It's is very peaceful here, isn't it?" he asked Amy. He sounded as though he wasn't quite sure himself. Amy gave a half-smile,

"It is. It's quiet, without cars and bustling people. Being here, I don't feel like going back to the city." it was more than that thought, there was something about Ba'al, something strange, that made _her_ feel strange, she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Yes..." whispered Ba'al, almost enviously, as though he wanted to feel and know what Amy had just described. A thought struck Amy - perhaps he was blind? No, that couldn't be it, he had sat down on the cliff ledge without any hesitation of any kind, had he been blind, he would've been much more cautious, surely? Did it matter?

The two of them sat on the cliff edge silently for what seemed to be a few seconds, but before Amy knew it, the stars were out, and the moon shone brightly down. She looked to her side, Ba'al was there, looking at her; at least, she guessed he was looking at her.

"You fell asleep." he said plainly. Amy almost laughed,

"I can see that – the stars and moon are out."

"Tell me about the stars." Ba'al asked, a slight juvenile eagerness seeping into his voice. His question caught Amy by surprise; _was_ he blind? No, he couldn't be. Still, she answered him,

"Well, they're twinkling, like small points of light and, there actually _a lot _of them tonight, I don't usually see this many at night. Must be because of we're away from the city. Hey, I can see the Milky Way! It's beautiful, magical even."

"_Twinkling..._" breathed Ba'al, _"Beautiful...magical..." _He abruptly stood up, "This has been good Amy, but you need to go now." Amy? But...she had never _told_ him her name! But before she could voice any concern over this, she felt his foot roughly connect with the small of her back, and felt herself hurtling down the cliff, towards the dark sea below.

Her body twisted in mid-air, so that she was facing up. She could just see Ba'al, who was removing his mask, then there was a agonising pain on her stomach, and she blacked out.

Amy woke with a horrendous jolt, feeling searing pain through her stomach. There was a crash from the right, she twisted her head to see what it was. Someone had smashed the window and was now climbing out of it! She couldn't see them, it was too dark, and she was distracted as she gazed at her stomach.

Blood was spilling over the bedsheets, a rough circle had been cut _into _her very skin. A scream erupted from her lungs, loud and shrill. And then knew no more.

* * *

CLIFFHANGER! ^^


	5. Rising

petite-dreamer - Nothing better for introducing plot elements and characters than the tried and tested 'real dream' method. ^^

revan blackheart - And know you will! (later -_-')

M2 - Any similarities to other characters, living or dead (or undead) are entirely coincidental. Chapter 4 - 'Midnight Visitor' is copyright to silent-eternity. Please sign this legal paper certifying you were insane when you posted that review and must be removed to an asylum where you may live in a 'Friday the 13th' free zone. (But yeah, it is strangely similar, but entirely coincidental. I have no stomach for horror movies. ^^ I scream at 'Scream', I go psycho with fear at 'Psycho' ^^. In short - I scare easily -_-')

* * *

**Rising**

Rouge had pursued the topic for two months. She had gone to Westopolis. She had met the high-ranking Molochite she was to charm, and to her surprise he hadn't been some disfigured maniac, but an attractive Arctic wolf, with a sweet voice and an even sweeter personality. He was the kind of Mobian that would always stop on his way to help the elderly across a road, or would always give a beggar some food or coins, whatever his own financial situation. But she also knew he was involved with some dark group, and according, to certain rumours about him, was much darker and possibly crueller than he appeared. Despite her resistance, she found herself being charmed by_ him._

Despite this 'conflict of interest' as the Commander would have called it, she had managed to befriend him and he used his influence to admit her into the 'Cult of Moloch'. With her connection to Shane, the wolf, she had learnt a lot. G.U.N had called them a 'shadowy group', after a few days in their hidden sanctuary in the sewers, Rouge found the word 'cult' was much, _much_ more appropriate. They worshipped some primal god, 'Moloch-Ba'al' and animal sacrifices were routinely performed in his name. Blood-letting, the practice of cutting yourself open to _'feed'_ Moloch-Ba'al your blood was rampant amongst the group, and it was nigh-impossible to have a conversation with any member without their dark god being mentioned. She had even heard that Mobian and Human sacrifices were performed on certain days of the year. It all left a bad taste in Rouge's mouth. She could understand killing, spilling blood, for money, but to inflict self-harm for some god that most probably didn't exist? That verged on dementia.

Of course, the Molochites didn't think of him as imaginary. According to Shane, Moloch-Ba'al would soon ascend to Mobius; where he would pass judgement, destroy the heathens, bless the believers, etc, etc. Standard religious cult stuff. The problem was, that according to all the weapons that seemed to be shifted daily out to cells scattered in the _world_, it seemed this cultist crusade would be happening, god or no god. It all made her wonder why people joined these kinds of groups. Why did they bother with skulking in sewers, claiming their god would return to 'set them free from the shackles imposed on them by the unbelievers'?

Presently, Rouge was sitting in her quarters in the Molochite sanctuary. The sanctuary literally ran for miles under the sewers, and Shane had sweetly insisted she have her own room. It was a double-edged sword for the bat, she was sure that if she'd had to return above ground she would never had found her way, the passaged leading out of the sanctuary were notoriously labyrinthine; but it meant she could spend more time spying, which meant this job would be over quicker, and she could enjoy her payment, not only that, but the room she had been assigned was fit for a goddess. It made her wonder where they got all this money from. Donations perhaps?

She was making her weekly report to G.U.N, describing what she had found out, etc, etc. She put the small device to her mouth, flicking the switch on. The small light flashed green, showing she was connected,

"This is Rouge. Come in G.U.N." the Commander's voice crackled through, slightly distorted,

"Acknowledged Rouge. This is the Commander. Make your report."

"I've found out our '_friends_'have cells in Station Square, Central City, and that they possibly have traitors within G.U.N..." she heard someone knock on her door, a hurried knock, as though they were in a hurry, "Gotta go." she whispered, flicking the device off. She carefully hid the communicator, before settling herself at her desk, reading some cheap magazine she had found about celebrity scandals. Boring, but useful to suddenly pretend to read when a random person started knocking on the door. She cleared her throat, before replying "Come in." The door burst open, and Shane entered, speaking quickly,

"Rouge! Rouge! You need to come quickly! Moloch-Ba'al is rising!" Rouge felt like laughing. _What, did some random maniac suddenly claim he was the avatar of their strange god? _she thought viciously. She had very little tolerance for their religious zeal, even Shane's. Still, she followed him, trying to keep up as he practically _sprinted_ through the tunnels of the Molochite sanctuary. She tried to remember the way they went, but it was futile. They twisted left and right, going deeper into the underground complex than Rouge had been before, until eventually, they arrived before an unassuming stone door. Shane placed his fist on the door, and it slid open,, eerily, without a sound. When they entered, Rouge was met with a strange sight. An echidnan temple, at least, she guessed it was echidnan, judging from the similarities to the one in the Mystic Ruins, towered above them. An entire pyramidal temple stood contained within a large cave,

"How?" she breathed to Shane. The wolf shrugged unconcernedly, replying,

"Some volcano buried the echidnan town under rock and ash. Westopolis was built on top. We managed to locate the temple, which was built on a wellspring of Chaos energy, and dug it out." They proceeded up the temple stairs, until they reached the very top of the pyramid. A large plain stone plinth stood there, surrounded by ranks of silent Molochites. Above the plinth, an ominous red mist hung. Shane left Rouge to the side and moved over to the ranks of the more important cultists, telling the bat to wait until Moloch-Ba'al had ascended. And so she stood there, impatiently waiting for whatever crackpot claimed to be a god to arrive. Then He arrived.

First there was a growing reddish glow around the plinth. Then a large gaping tear, formed in the _very air_. The tear hung there for a moment, and then swirled round, forming some kind of a vortex. Finally, it disappeared in a large flash of red. When Rouge had been able to see again, she saw a red hedgehog, wearing some plain white mask, with a red hand imprinted onto it, and some golden jewellery was now hovering a few inches above the plinth. The Molochites all fell to their knees, kowtowing fervently. After a split-second of feeling out of place, Rouge did the same. The hedgehog spoke, his voice somehow magnifying itself, giving the impression that it was coming from everywhere,

"Let all proclaim the rising of the great god – Moloch-Ba'al!"

* * *

A healthy dose of cults and gods helps the plot move forward ^^. As ever, please review!


	6. Blood Rain

revan blackheart - You'll see if you're right later. She's definitely got some part in the cultist plans. ^^

petite-dreamer - Maybe, maybe, you'll have to see later. ^^

M2 - Yeah, Moloch-Ba'al is the one who knifed Amy, because he's far too evil to use his servants to do his dirty work. ^^

* * *

**Blood Rain**

The sun was setting on Station Square, but it made little difference. An oppressively thick cover of clouds plastered the sky, covering any piece of blue sky, and already eliminating most of the sunlight, which was already pale due to the winter season. All in all, it almost looked like it was night, despite only being late afternoon.

The Station Square hospital stood proudly amongst the various skyscrapers that jutted out from the ground, instantly recognisable from the large red 'H' that hung on its sides. Down in the streets, Tails, Knuckles, Vector and Cream met up and spoke between themselves for a moment, before entering the building. They all looked pretty grim. The kitsune quickly managed to get the directions to the room they were looking for, and the four of them moved up, taking the elevator to the 13th floor before arriving at Amy Rose's room.

Amy looked bad. Fortunately for her; a neighbour had heard her scream and seen the mysterious assailant who had savagely carved her stomach. He had quickly phoned the police, who, once they saw Amy, quickly brought in an ambulance. And there she was. She had lost a lot of blood, a fact made obvious by the tube connecting her arm to a stand from which hung a bag of crimson blood. Her four friends entered, and she smiled weakly,

"Glad you could make it." she said, clearing her throat. Tails drew up a chair, sitting down besides the rose hedgehog,

"So what actually happened?" he asked her quietly. Amy frowned grimly, thinking for a moment before replying,

"I don't know. I wake up, someone's smashed my window, jumped out of it, and..." she hesitated for a second, "and I've got a circle _butchered_ into my body!" Cream opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, someone knocked on the door. A quick, officious rap on the wood. And then, without waiting for an answer, a lady walked in. She was wearing a G.U.N uniform, complete with a beret perched on her long, tied-back blonde hair.

"Ms. Rose?" she asked, her voice soft but formal. Amy nodded, the woman continued, "I am Sergeant Victoria, from the G.U.N Special Operations Unit. I need to speak with you." she glanced at the hedgehog's other visitors, "Alone." Amy shook her head slowly,

"No. They stay, or we don't talk." Sergeant Victoria looked at the four, and then at Amy, and then she shrugged,

"What the hell." she said, her formal accent making this sound slightly comical, "Now, we, that is to say - G.U.N, believe that the attack on you was propagated by a cult, known as the 'Molochites'." Amy tilted her head quizzically,

"The Molochites? Now they _do_ sound evil." Victoria smiled slightly,

"Yes well, we currently have one of our best agents investigating this cult." From the corner of the room, stood watching the streets below, Knuckles murmured,

"Y'know, I haven't seen Rouge for some time." the G.U.N agent looked at him sharply, and the echidna caught her glance, "As I thought," he grinned, "I imagine Rouge is your 'best agent' who's working this case?" Victoria chewed her lower lip for the barest fraction of a second, before saying plainly,

"That's not for me to say." she stood up sharply, eyeing Knuckles for a moment, before saying, very formally, "I need to ask you not to tell anyone about what I have told you in this room. The investigation into the Molochites is top-secret. Only myself, the Commander of G.U.N, our agent, the President, and now you, know." Vector interrupted, raising his hands,

"Whoa whoa, _wait_, lady. You say you're only a sergeant? Then how the _hell _do you know all about this top-secret thing?" Victoria smiled, revealing perfect white teeth,

"If you wanted to find out about a top-clearance operation, who would you kidnap and torture, or go through the belongings of – a petty sergeant, or a major? There is safety in having trusted people in low ranks." She tipped her beret to day, turning round. Just as she was about to leave the room, Knuckles spoke again,

"Uh guys?" he paused for a moment, before saying, "It's raining blood." And it was. The rain everyone had been expecting to fall all day had finally arrived, but it wasn't water. Crimson red, it fell down into the streets, literally making small rivers of blood as it drained into the gutters. They could see people down below running to and fro, scared witless by this sudden eerie rain of blood. But that wasn't all: in a sudden bright flash, the clouds - the entire blanket that had kept the sky and sun out – suddenly blazed into an inferno of fire. Vector swallowed, managing to remark,

"A winter shower of blood and cloud cover from hell, looks like the apocalypse is starting early." As they all watched the falling blood and the shimmering veil of fire that dominated the sky, they heard the door slam open. Swirling round, they saw it was a group of menacing people, dressed entirely in red – red trousers, red shirts complete with red hoods. But what they were wearing didn't matter; what mattered was that they were threateningly pointing guns at the group. The hooded person stood at the front, noticeably their leader, pointed his gun towards Amy,

"You, hedgehog. You are to come with us."

* * *

Because we all love cliffhangers. ^_^'


	7. Kidnapping

revan blackheart -Beware the red people! ^^

M2 - And another accidental reference to add to this list. ^^' But yeah, I lied when I said Moloch-Ba'al is too evil to use henchmen, you can never be too evil to use henchmen.

petite-dreamer - Doctors are notorious for ignoring 'superstition'. ^^

* * *

**Kidnapping**

Amy gave a shriek,

"Me!? Can't you see it's raining blood!? Blood!" Tails put his arm out, silencing her. The two-tailed fox swallowed hard, before asking the strange red group,

"What...what do you want with her?" The leader of the group gave an exasperated sigh, before saying, clearly irritated,

"She has been marked as Chosen and must come with us. I have nothing more to say to a heathen who will refuse the blood of Moloch-Ba'al." At this point Cream, cowering behind Vector, spoke up,

"But...Amy can't go anywhere, she's hurt." The leader swung his wide-eyed, crazy, glare onto the rabbit,

"I'm sorry a young child such as you has to be exposed to the corrupting influences of such people, and that you must see this violence." he sounded genuinely sad as he said this. Victoria spoke up, clearing her throat,

"Look," she said gravely, "at any rate, there's no way you can get Amy out of her without being caught - you might as well give yourselves up." A Molochite spat, before speaking,

"Spare us the self-righteous speeches." Victoria eyed the red-clad figure, clearly a canine no older than 20 years,

"As far as I can tell," she whispered, "you Molochites are the only people who've been trying to justify your blood religion. How did you even get in here?" The Molochite leader smiled at this question,

"People will believe anything if you tell them its involved with religion. We simply told security that red is the colour of mourning for our religion and that we had recently suffered a death. We had to take the hoods off, of course but..."

He was interrupted for at that moment, two things happened. The over-eager young Molochite fired at Victoria, missing her by inches – and all the windows in the room suddenly exploded, showering glass onto the streets below. Deciding to take advantage of the ensuing confusion, the leader fired a shot at Vector, catching the crocodile in the right arm. In retaliation Knuckles swung a fist towards the aggressor, but another Molochite slammed the butt of his gun hard on the echidna's head, knocking him down. The leader grabbed Amy, pulling her roughly out of bed. She screamed shrilly, overcome by terror from the evening's events; fainting in his arms. He thrust her onto another Molochite, who and the red group fled the room.

Knuckles pushed himself up, chasing after them, swearing loudly. Victoria swung round, facing the wounded Vector and the terrified Cream,

"All right?" she asked hastily. Vector nodded,

"Just a scratch. Now get after them!" he replied. Victoria nodded slightly, running after Knuckles, soon followed in turn by Tails. Arriving in the corridor, the heroes quickly saw the Molochites had taken the lift. Shards of glass lay scattered in the various rooms and hallways, and they had to push past numerous other patients and visitors who had taken to the corridors, terrorized by the raining blood, blazing clouds, and exploding windows. They took to the stairs, Victoria down one flight; Tails and Knuckles taking another.

To her left, Victoria could see the lift, quickly out-moving her. She jostled a poor man on crutches out of her way, apologizing profoundly. She _had_ to find a way to get down quicker. The stairs were jam-packed with people, all shrieking or crying or simply doing nothing but standing there. She passed a screen, catching the words 'blood', 'fish' and 'movements'. It seemed the carrion that were reporters had decided to do their jobs despite the obviously manic happenings of the outside world. _It rains blood and they simply tell everyone about how it's affecting the fish! _She thought furiously, she had absolutely no patience for reporters. Once, a reporter had thrust a microphone beneath her nose, asking to comment on the Commander's decision to keep the ARK up and running. Her reaction had seen her banned from being anywhere near any reporters. She looked up ahead, hospital security, stopping everyone from stampeding anywhere further down the stairs. _Why don't they go after the Molochites!?_ They were obviously oblivious to the cultists' kidnapping, too busy trying to stop the half-crazed patients from all rushing down the stairs at once. She recognised the man at the forefront, she had had problems with him when she had made her way up to Amy's room. The last thing she needed was to be slowed down.

She had a desperate idea. Jumping over the balustrade, she held onto the side, hanging on above the drop. She begun swinging herself, ignoring the cries of the security guards and various other people.

Then she let go.

She flew down onto the flight of stairs below her – past the guards. _Perfect._ Ignoring the shouts of the security personnel, she started sprinting down again, taking the steps five at a time. Finally, she reached the lobby. She swung round, pulling her pistol from its holster. There were the Molochites. _Perfect again._ She held the gun up, level at the leader's face,

"Stop!" she demanded. The Molochites obediently stopped, surprised at her sudden appearance. Victoria breathed hard, exhausted by her sprint, "Now, give us Amy." A Molochite in the back pulled a gun, only to be suddenly struck down by a mittened fist. Behind the cultists, cutting them off, stood Knuckles and Tails, also panting deeply. Knuckles smiled,

"Got lost." he grinned. Victoria smiled back,

"Well, never mind, we're all here now." The Molochite leader spat, and Victoria crumpled into a heap on the ground, her smile still on her face. Behind her stood another red-clad cultist, holding a metal pipe. The group pulled their guns, aiming them at the remaining fox and echidna. They didn't say a word, but the meaning was clear. 'Try to stop us and we'll shoot you.'. The Molochites backed out, guns staying level at the two heroes. The one carrying Amy threw her roughly into the back of an unmarked white van. Two of the cultists kept their guns pointed at Knuckles and Tails while the rest got into the van. Then, suddenly, they lowered the guns and got in themselves. The kitsune and guardian took this as their chance, rushing forwards. But it was too late, the van surged forward - throwing up a pool of blood onto the two heroes – and escaped down the street.

* * *

And yet another cliffhanger. -_-


	8. L'Ange et le Diable

M2 - A good point about the security, so I've gone back and edited the last chapter a bit to show why security didn't go after them. And there will be blood testing later, trust me. ^^

petite-dreamer - I shan't deny or endorse that particular statement. You'll have to wait and see if you're right. ^^

revan blackheart - Thanks!

* * *

**L'Ange et le Diable**

The Commander paced to and fro in the G.U.N headquarters in Central City. Before him stood a soldier, armour damaged and smeared with blood, both from the falling rain and from battle,

"The Molochites have deployed troops – numbering more than a hundred thousand and reinforced by mechs and tanks." the soldier reported grimly. The Commander growled,

"Mechs? And tanks?" he asked calmly. The soldier nodded,

"Most probably taken from one of Dr. Eggman's old bases, they bear the Doctor's moustached logo on their sides."

"Hmm. Carry on."

"All G.U.N troops and mechs have been deployed to fight them but we have reports of a very powerful entity heading the invasion, one the cultists call 'Moloch-Ba'al'."

"Moloch-Ba'al?"

"Yes sir."

"Hmph. Reinforce all positions, don't fall back unless completely necessary. Have all civilians evacuated immediately. And get the President out of here! _Whatever_ he says."

"At once sir." the soldier saluted and left hastily. The Commander thought for a moment, Moloch-Ba'al was the god the Molochites worshipped, according to Rouge. _Rouge..._he hadn't had a report from the bat since her last transmission had been cut off. It was quite worrying especially given the evolving circumstances. _A hundred thousand! With mechs and tanks!_ G.U.N had clearly underestimated the Molochites' zeal – they had equipped and prepared themselves faster than any defence force he knew of.

And now they were _invading_. It had occurred shortly after the start of the falling downpour of blood, a large force had been seen moving in from the north. He had sent scouts the investigate, all of the had been killed – gruesomely if their anguished cries over the com-link had been any indication. As if that wasn't bad enough, reports indicated a smaller but still sizeable force was moving towards Station Square. From Westopolis, the Molochites' headquarters, there had been nothing but some garbled transmissions about heavy losses. _So much for our plan to nip the cult in the bud_. He moved over to his desk, pressing the intercom,

"Hayes? Prepare '_L'Ange_'." '_L'Ange X04_' was the Commander's personal mech, recently built and as-of-yet untested. It was - at least, it was hoped to be – G.U.N's strongest mech by far. Sighing from both sorrow and anger, he strode out of the command centre.

The streets were - to be put it bluntly – a mess. The horrifying torrent of rain still fell relentlessly, and there was at least a centimetre thick layer of blood covering the roads, some of it actually congealing...clotting. People ran frantically, hysterically to and fro, trying to escape the Molochite soldiers who had no qualms killing innocent and undefended civilians. Others, who had perhaps been driven mad by the chain of impossible events or had perhaps always been mad stood in the streets, claiming the Apocalypse was on them, claiming the world had become too sinful, all your usual doomsday chants. Above, the clouds still raged on fire, lighting the city with an unearthly flickering orange glow.

It all left a _very_ bad taste in the Commander's mouth.

Piloting _L'Ange_, he strode slowly through Central City's streets. _L'Ange_ towered over the half-crazed people below, terrorizing them further. It's pale-blue armour and its sword, affixed to the right arm, shimmered red in the fiery light. A group of Molochites, one driving a tank, made their way – almost lazily – down the street. The Commander let his rage propel him, bringing to bear the – according to the G.U.N scientists – _revolutionary_ beam cannon that was the left arm of _L'Ange. _He aimed it at the cultists, and fired. A bright green beam of blazing light shot from the arm, striking the tank, there was a brief silence, followed by an explosion that almost seemed to be trying to compensate for the brief interlude of quiet. The tank crumpled in on itself, and the Molochites were nowhere to be seen.

_Heh. Very effective._ Inside _L'Ange_, the Commander smiled. He had little doubt that with _L'Ange's_ fierce fighting capabilities the cultists would soon be driven back, and then they could deal with the attacks on Westopolis and Station Square. He heard a voice at his very ear,

"_You kill my children?"_ it was a quiet voice, but one that quivered with rage. He spun round, there, one the rubble of a destroyed building, stood a red hedgehog, wearing a simple white mask – at least, he guessed it was red. In the light it shone orange. - with a red hand imprinted on it, seemingly in blood.

"Are you 'Moloch-Ba'al?" the Commander spat. The hedgehog nodded slowly. "Then prove to me your '_divinity'_." Moloch-Ba'al laughed, a harsh sound,

"You wish to test yourself against my godliness? So be it Commander." and with that, the hedgehog jumped, higher than anyone humanely could, black lightning crackling around his left fist. _L'Ange _brought its sword-arm up, swinging towards him, but Moloch-Ba'al swerved in mid-air, landing down on the destroyed remains of the Molochite tank. The mech fired its beam cannon at him, but once again he was too quick, leaping to the side while the tank smouldered into even more pieces.

"You're too slow Commander!" laughed Moloch-Ba'al, smugness seeping into his voice. The Molochite god landed beside a cowering woman. "You and your pathetic G.U.N cronies are always too slow, always too weak." He slammed his fist into the woman's forehead, it crumpled inwards like weak paper, blood flowing from her mouth.

White hot fury overcame the Commander. He slammed _L'Ange_'s sword hard into the ground where Moloch-Ba'al stood but, as always, his enemy was too nimble, jumping away to the side. He spotted the hedgehog lazily standing on top of the rubble he had appeared on. _L'Ange_ fired its beam cannon. The ruins of the building were incinerated at once, but Moloch-Ba'al simply leaped to the side. The Commander roared in rage, swinging his sword in an arc towards the supposed god, only to see his opponent standing on the mech's very sword. Moloch-Ba'al slammed his fist into the blade, and it melted, dripping down into the sea of blood below with a hiss. "Always too emotional, a trait which gives you easy-to-exploit weaknesses." spat Moloch-Ba'al, laughter crawling into his voice.

The Commander said nothing, simply raising _L'Ange_'s beam cannon, and firing it. The emerald beam engulfed Moloch-Ba'al, and he heard a distinct cry of anguish. When the light had faded he saw a skeleton clatter onto the floor, but it wasn't a hedgehog's skeleton.

"Oh dear, you seem to have killed some _poor_ G.U.N soldier." a snide voice spoke at his left shoulder. He twisted _L'Ange_'s head round. Moloch-Ba'al stood there, not a mark on him. "Still, nevermind." the Molochite god drew his fist back and slammed it hard into the machine's shoulder. The entire mech collapsed into pieces. Falling with a loud crash into the blood below, raising a plume of red liquid. Everything settled, and for a second all was quiet. Then the Commander kicked _L'Ange_'s control hatch open, stepping out. His mismatched blue and amber eyes surveyed the scene before him. A voice, only too familiar now, came from behind him,

"See anything interesting?" Once again, the Commander stayed silent, simply spinning round, pulling a pistol from his belt and firing it expertly at Moloch-Ba'al. The hedgehog lazily _caught_ the bullet. Holding it up for the Commander to see. "Fool." the god spat. The Commander fired again, once again Moloch-Ba'al caught the bullet. "You're getting nowhere, Commander." Finally the G.U.N officer spoke,

"I'm slowing you down enough for more people to escape your damn invasion."

"Oh really? Well, in that case, I suppose this is goodbye." the hedgehog turned round, walking off. The Commander was about to fire again, surprised by Moloch-Ba'al's sudden departure, but the hedgehog raised a hand, waving over his shoulder.

Then there was pain. The Commander felt agony for the barest of seconds, and then, in a mess of blood, his body ripped itself apart. The pieces of the corpse fell into the sea of blood, the Commander's mixing with the blood already there.

Moloch-Ba'al took a second to look back over his shoulder at what was left of the G.U.N Commander._ Never even learnt his real name._ A Molochite warrior-priest, identifiable by the blue circle on his red armour made his way to the god. The priest kowtowed before speaking,

"Most holy lord. Our forces have pushed G.U.N out of the city. However, we were unsuccessful in capturing the President, the heathen managed to flee in a helicopter before we arrived. Our forces are penetrating Station Square as we speak and we have little doubt G.U.N weak presence will quickly be swept aside." Moloch-Ba'al inclined his head slowly,

"Very good. Continue eradicating the heathens from Central City. I will go head the invasion force in Station Square."

"As you command, so it is." the priest bowed and retreated. Moloch-Ba'al stood still for a second, before slamming his hands together, shimmering from existence.

* * *

Cliffhanger 'r' us - for all your cliffhanging needs.


	9. Escape

revan blackheart - Thanks! ^^

petite-dreamer - Yeah, it was pretty graphic -_-', but it won't get any worse than that. ^^

M2 - Close enough I think. ^^

* * *

**Escape**

Tails, Knuckles, Vector, Cream and Victoria stood quietly in a consultation office just off the Station Square hospital lobby. Vector's wounded arm and Victoria's head had been patched up; though the crocodile had noticeable difficulties in using his right arm, and Victoria had a growing lump on the back of her head. Trying to ignore the cries of the hospital security and staff telling the patients to return to their rooms rather than stampede through the corridors, they discussed what to do in the wake of Amy's kidnapping,

"It's simple." Victoria said firmly, adjusting her beret, "Seeing as the assailants were Molochites, this is a G.U.N matter." Tails opened his mouth to say something but Knuckles beat him to it,

"Hey!" he growled, "You're forgetting Amy's our _friend!_ We've been through worse than this messed-up cult!" Victoria stared at him coolly for a moment before speaking,

"_Worse_ than raining _blood_? _Worse_ than _flaming clouds_? Well, I won't stop you. But I can't promise the Commander won't try to." she said quietly, a slight smile - perhaps simply the lighting - appearing to dance on her lips. At that moment, a huge explosion ripped through the hospital walls, shredding them like paper. Cream gave a shrill scream, clutching Tails. They all ducked beneath the table as debris began to fall. Once the remains of the hospital wall had finished falling, Vector slowly looked out from under the table.

There was a huge gash in the wall, looking much like some unearthly creature had cut through it with claws, further on, the wall ended in a large hole, from where...whatever it had been had hit it. Outside, more debris fell into the pools of blood as the hospital begun to collapse, sending plumes of blood into the air.

Letting her military instincts take over, Victoria shot out from under the table, her voice calm but authoritative,

"We need to get out of here. Now!" Instinctively obeying to the clear voice, the group pushed themselves out of the crumbling hospital.

Outside, the city was a scene of carnage. From one street the dark and threatening shape of a tank was trawling up through the road, turret swivelling round, shooting inanely at various buildings. Cream, huddled behind Tails, asked in a very quiet voice,

"Why are they attacking the buildings?" Knuckles slammed his fists together,

"Never mind!" he snarled, "We'll show them!" Victoria held an arm out to stop him,

"Don't. There must be an entire army out there. The best thing we can do is escape." No sooner had she said these words that the tanks swivelled round towards them, they all threw themselves to the side as the war machine fired, throwing up a huge plume of blood that covered the group. They pushed themselves onto their feet hastily moving down an alleyway, Cream on Vector's shoulders like an infant toddler. As they left the alley, a Molochite soldier, wielding a gun with Dr. Eggman's trademark moustached logo printed on it, saw them. Before he could call any more soldiers or shoot them, Knuckles threw a spiked fist into him sending him crashing into a pile of debris where he didn't get up again. The heroes continued on their way, keeping away from any groups of Molochite soldiers, tanks or even the odd bipedal mech. After ten minutes or so of navigating their way through the treacherous, debris-filled roads of the city, they stopped to catch their breath. Victoria took this moment to attempt to call G.U.N. Her calls over the transponder went without answer thought, and she grimly put the communicator back into her breast pocket,

"No answer, can't be good. If they've struck here, then it's very possible they've attacked Central City, or other cities." she said quietly, barely audible over the sheer noise that pervaded the air.

"What I want to know is how some cult managed to get bloody _tanks, guns_ and _robots!_" Vector panted, holding his wounded arm, which had begun to hurt again as the painkillers stopped their work, all too soon.

"Didn't you see Robotnik's logo on them? They must've got them from one of the Doctors bases." Tails replied, sitting haphazardly on a chunk of stone from some environing building. Knuckles, breathing smoother than the others, spoke quietly, somehow managing to be heard over the roar of the gunfire,

"We should move." The others nodded, getting up from their resting positions.

It seemed like they were in those ruin-littered roads for hours, though it must only have taken them an hour, an hour and a half at most, to reach the outskirts of the city. Most of the Molochite soldiers were fighting G.U.N troops in the centre of Station Square, but even so, they had to make their way slowly, keeping to the sides. As escape from the hellish nightmare beckoned they moved out of the alleyway they were in, going out into the road.

There, sat like a meditating monk on a rock, was a red hedgehog, wearing a simple white mask with a bloody hand imprinted on it. The hedgehog looked up at them the moment they saw them,

"Welcome." he said, with all the suave of a host greeting his guests. Despite the soft tone of his voice, it somehow managed to seem like it had been shouted, all while staying soft like a whisper. The hedgehog stood up,

"I am Moloch-Ba'al, most blessed of all." Victoria levelled her weapon at him, gazing at him cautiously, "Would you kill a god?" Moloch-Ba'al asked, his voice amused. He held out his outstretched palms, like a peaceful gesture; Victoria's pistol melted, dripping down into the blood below. He closed his left palm into a fist, and the building to his left made a hissing noise, and the stone melted into lava, falling into the red liquid below where it cooled. The supposed god looked at each of them in turn, before speaking,

"I don't want to kill you, your antics have given me much amusement, and I have need of your blood. But I ask you to surrender, to save yourself the pains of capture, my soldiers can be overzealous." No one spoke, Moloch-Ba'al sighed deeply, "Very well." he moved out of the street, moving down an alleyway, before entering the alley he turned back, saying one final thing before leaving them,

"If _I _ever find you again I shall have no recourse but to kill you."

* * *

Dramaticness!


	10. Chosen

M2 - Thanks! ^^ Some good points and questions there, which I can't really answer so as to not spoil the plot too much. All I can say is that Moloch-Ba'al has little faith in his cultists for the better part, and often contradicts himself. ^_^'

* * *

**Chosen**

Amy awoke with a terrifying start. Breathing deeply, she looked round. She was in a small, dimly-lit stone chamber, with no perceivable door. For a split-second she wondered where she was, then it all came flooding back to her – the kidnapping by those hooded cultists. One had pulled her roughly out of her hospital bed, and then she couldn't remember anything more. She felt weak, her arms and legs ached, and there was a throbbing pain where she had had the circle viciously cut into her.

_'OK. Calm Amy, just calm it girl. You've been through worse than this. This isn't the first time you've been kidnapped after all, is it? But Sonic was there to save me those times, and I had my Piko-Piko Hammer, and I didn't feel weak and helpless, and I knew roughly where I was, and I knew that Dr. Eggman wasn't going to kill me, and...no, no. Just don't think about that.' _her thoughts raced desperately and she knew that her situation was hopeless. She was trapped god-knows-where, with no weapons, with psychopathic fanatics and she was too weak even if she could get herself some kind of weapon.

A section of the wall suddenly slammed open, revealing itself to be a hidden door; cutting Amy's thoughts off and eliciting a half-shriek-half-sob from the rose hedgehog. In the doorway, a fox, with red markings that looked suspiciously – worryingly - like blood, stood pointing a gun towards her,

"Hurry now," he growled, his voice quiet but gentle, "We must get to the temple as quickly as possible." Amy's thoughts began racing again,

_'Temple!? They're going to sacrifice me!!' _she gave a sob, unable to get any other sound out of her mouth. The fox sighed, and, almost like he had read her mind, said in a strangely soothing voice,

"We're not going to sacrifice you, hedgehog. You have been chosen for a far greater honour." he looked wistful for a moment, whispering "Far greater..."

Amy swallowed hard, this insane fox scared her witless, despite his calming voice, and she was sure whatever they wanted her for at their temple, it couldn't be good. On the other hand she could refuse to move from here and therefore assuredly be shot. There seemed to be no safe way out. Still, between being shot and having a chance to live another day, she'd rather take her chances.

Nodding slowly, she moved towards the cell exit. The fox moved out of the way, briefly blinding Amy with the brightness of the light that shone outside. It wasn't daylight, but it was much brighter than in her dark prison. Once her eyes were adjusted to the light, she stepped out, painfully aware of the armed cultist behind her. It was a rough hewn corridor that led straight down to a stone wall. There seemed to be no way out. Despite this, the fox ushered her forward, until they arrived at the stone wall at the far end of the corridor. He placed his fist on the wall, and it slid open – eerily, without a single sound that gave the stone an immaterial feeling. The entire place appeared to be full of secret door, it appeared. Amy hesitated on the threshold of the entrance, but once again the insane fox pushed her forward, gently but firmly.

When she stepped in she was met with an almost ethereal scene. A huge echidnan-style temple pyramid _inside_ a cave. Too afraid to ask her captor for any information on this structure, and - in truth - not caring what with the greater concerns at bay here, she continued forward.

There were literally thousand of red hooded Molochites assembled there, all staring intently at her as she stumbled up the pyramid steps. At the top she was thrust into a ring of red-robed cultists. Beside her, four other prisoners stood, shrivelled and clearly as terrified as she. One of them, a Human woman with short black hair, tried to give her a smile, but it was lost on the pink hedgehog, and was of little use in such frightening surroundings.

A particular cultist, some priest perhaps, instantly recognisable with his white robes, rather than red; and his canine face painted blood red, approached the group of prisoners ceremoniously, holding a foreboding golden chalice. Suddenly, without any sort of warning, stronger hands grabbed Amy from behind, and twisting her head, she saw the same done to the other captives. She screamed shrilly, teetering on the edge of fainting, but somehow unable to. The cultists that held her pushed her down onto a stone table, attaching her down securely.

The white-robed dog approached her, holding the chalice high. He tilted it down, pouring some red-liquid down onto the circular cut that had been her cause for admission to hospital. There was a strange, tingling, feeling, followed by an explosion of pain. The priest began to chant loudly his voice a rasp,

"And accept now the gift of Moloch-Ba'al's blood, that you may forever be linked with Him mind and body, the first of the Ascended gods."

_'Blood!! That's blood!!?'_

Amy began to scream louder, begging to be freed, begging some cultists with some vestige of decency to save her; but was cut off as the priest poured the remaining blood down her throat. As she tried to spit it out, another cultist held her nose until she was forced to gulp down the substance. Unable to speak, she drew in a great shuddering sob. Turning her head to spit out some blood that remained, she saw other priests, performing the same twisted ceremony on the other prisoners. Once they had all finished, one of the priests, apparently their leader, held up his chalice, crying out to the crowds assembled in the great cavern,

"See now! For the Chosen have been prepared to become His first Ascended gods, and with them shall this universe be purified by wind and flame and water. He has destroyed our enemies and prepared us to fight against the Enemy. Soon the Great Enemy shall arrive, and then shall our faith be tested." The crowds below took up the chant,

"_Beware the Great Enemy!"_

"Soon He shall reign in all things. Soon he shall Ascend to his throne of malachite."

"_He shall reign in all things."_ The priest turned to each prisoner, and then to Amy,

"Soon, you Ascended gods shall see Him, and perform the greatest sin against the Great Enemy. And then Moloch-Ba'al shall rule against all things. And then the impurities of this universe shall be cleansed by wind and flame and water...and most divinely, by _blood._"

* * *

NB: Scary blood-priest dogs are not good for mental health. ^^


	11. La Resistencia

M2 - That was cool. Bloody, but cool. But I'm afraid Amy is going to end up like that. ^^

* * *

**El Resistencia**

_1 year later_

Tails sharply ducked under a overhanging piece of rubble. Behind him, he heard Knuckles swear quietly, also hiding himself. The Molochite patrol, armed to the teeth, swaggered past them, voices boisterously talking between themselves about the success of their latest campaign against the G.U.N remnants hiding in the Mystic Ruins. The kitsune held his breath, waiting for the Molochites to pass by, but, as though reading his thoughts, they stopped there. Apparently not noticing the fox and echidna crouched under the rubble, but giving them cursory glances, their voices rose higher with the recounts of the great deeds they had performed, all exaggerated.

Finally, after five minutes or so of pure anxiety and worry, they moved on. Once the cultists were safely out of ear-shot and truly gone, Knuckles pulled himself free from under the crumbled stones and Tails followed.

"That was close." remarked Knuckles softly. The cream kitsune nodded deeply, breathing deeply. It wasn't the first time they had almost been caught by the frequent Molochite patrols in the past year. Thankfully, an entire year of hiding in the destroyed ruins of Station Square had taught them when to expect the regular-as-clockwork patrols, but there was still the possibility for error...

He, Knuckles, Cream, Vector and Victoria had returned to Station Square once the Molochite forces had moved out. It had been a scene of pure primal carnage. The entire city had been razed, and there were few survivors to be found, most of them either civilians who had got out early or G.U.N troops who had been trapped by the cultists and been buried under rubble, only to pull themselves free later. At Victoria's suggestion they had gathered up the survivors and camped in the destroyed city until a Molochite patrol sent them running. After escaping the patrol, they had discovered a manhole that led to a relatively spacious confluence in the sewers where they had established a base. From other survivors they had learnt that both Westopolis and Central City had also been completely razed and its population wiped out. From the conversations between the Molochite patrols and the TV propaganda sent out by the Molochites, they had learnt that the cultists had conquered most of Mobius, but that only Station Square, Westopolis and Central City had been destroyed; every other city had been spared.

Upon the ruins of Station Square a large Molochite temple-base had been built, and people arrived in truck-loads per day to dig out the rubble. 'Colonization', a particular Molochite patrol had called it. Further evidence suggested they were trying to dig something up; but what? Everyone agreed it couldn't be good, but they all couldn't help but be intrigued by the mass-digs taking place in the destroyed city, _and also_, apparently, in Central City and Westopolis. Despite this curiosity as to what the Molochites were trying to dig up, everyone still agreed it was probably better to disrupt the digs rather than wait for them to finish. And so they had tried. They had sent new truck-loads of diggers running, had destroyed valuable equipment and had even resorted to stealing the spades from the dig-site. It wasn't much, but it seemed to them all they could do in this new, cruel, world.

A few months later, there had been a transmission overriding the Molochite propaganda, straight from the President, or ex-President, depending on how you thought of it. He made a passionate plea for the people of Mobius to rise up against the cultists and 'throw off the shackles of slavery'. Molochite patrols increased ten-fold in a singly day. Still, Tails mused, it had been good for morale, to know the President was still alive, and that there were others apart from them fighting against Moloch-Ba'al's cultists.

The fox and echidna arrived at the manhole. The manhole was the only entrance to the resistance base. All other issues had been blocked by rubble and most of the sewers had collapsed during the attack. He climbed in after Knuckles, Leon, the disgruntled G.U.N guard, grunted a greetings to them as they passed. When they arrived at the large central chamber, Victoria appeared from nowhere at the red echidna's side,

"Well? How did it go?" she asked eagerly. Tails shook his head,

"The brought in _lots_ more guards. There's simply no way to get in." he replied. Knuckles gave a low growl,

"We'd have more luck trying to find a penguin in the sahara." he said. Victoria shook her head,

"Don't be silly," she said simply, "there must be _some _way into the site."

"Are you even listening to us!? There's no way in!" snarled Knuckles angrily. A few heads turned in the chamber. The ex-G.U.N Sergeant stared the guardian down,

"No need to get angry." she said softly, "the last thing we need to do is fight between ourselves." Knuckles sighed deeply,

"I know. I know. But what with all this, a year without news from Amy or Rouge, a year hiding like rats from a bunch of bloody_ psychopathic_ maniacs! I just can't take it anymore.

"Well you're going to be pleased at this, then." a voice from the side came. It was Vector, grinning his crocodile smile and bobbing his head to the music on his headphones which he had somehow managed to get a year's supply of batteries for.

"What?" asked Tails curiously. The crocodile motioned for them to follow him into the side-room. It was not a room, in truth, but a blocked-off sewage tunnel where they had installed all the transmitters and TVs and such they had managed to gather from the ruins. Vector sat down in his chair, bringing up a file on the damaged - but working – computer.

"I just managed to intercept a Molochite transmission and I think you'll all be very pleased." The file opened and the familiar face of the Molochite propaganda minister – or 'priest' as they put it – came up. The Arctic wolf was well-known by all the resistance and was the butt of many deriding jokes. Starting with the usual formal cultist greeting, he proceeded to give the usual talk of how they were liberating the universe for all to adore Moloch-Ba'al and such, and then, his voice growing serious, begun to speak in a low voice,

"Furthermore, all Molochites of the second-level and higher are reminded that they are to attend the ascension-head at the Grand Temple for the rest of this month. Glory be to His name, this is Shane, signing out." Tails scratched his head, thinking hard,

"Second-level? If I remember, that's everyone but the basic guards." he said. Knuckles gave a grin,

"Then the dig-sites would be almost defenceless! The perfect time to teach these bastards what happens when they kill people for no good reason." he growled. Victoria twirled a loose strand of grimy hair through her hands,

"I'm not sure, what is this 'ascension-head' thing anyway?" Vector shook his head,

"Does it matter? We can go cause some serious havoc!" Knuckles slammed his fists together,

"Well it's settled then, we go in, cause a maximum of damage, and get out." he said, before adding, "Easy in, easy out." Victoria frowned,

"Don't," she said in a serious tone, "you'll jinx us."

* * *

They're doomed, yep, totally doomed. -_-'


	12. Multi Mirabilis Res

M2 - Thanks for pointing my errors out, they've been noted and fixed, and a few sentences changed here and there in the first paragraph simply because I can and felt it flowed better. I've changed the categorization as you suggested, because it does fit the story much better given all the gods and demons and cultists, etc. I wasn't sure on the title since I only do French and Latin, so I went for **'el'** simply because it makes it seem more Spanish. ^^

And with that, here is the much belated chapter.

* * *

**Multi mirabilis res**

The Molochite citadel was an amalgamation of ruins interspersed with ugly metal cylinders connected by large bridges. The cultist logo, a flame within a circle, had been painstakingly painted onto the central cylinder, where all the essential operations of the Molochite presence within Station Square were housed. Beneath the main building lay the dig-site, surrounded by an ineffectual metal grille topped with barbed wire. The entire complex had little in the way of automated defences but was usually protected by at least a hundred Molochite guards.

Currently, there were no perceivable guards; no sign of life could be seen within or without the complex.

"It seems they _have_ all gone." Vector whispered to the others as he poked his head above a large block of semi-destroyed concrete, possible a pillar from some unknown building. Tails pushed himself up besides the crocodile,

"Or they're inside waiting to ambush us." he said. Vector gave a slight harrumph,

"Don't let your optimism endanger the mission, young padawan." he said in a very serious, almost comical tone. There was a shushing sound from behind them and Victoria moved to Vector's sides,

"Quiet! And get down!" she hissed. Vector mumbled a retort under his breath, pulling his head down behind the cover of the concrete. Knuckles moved in,

"Why are you so on edge anyway? There's no one there, Vick." he said levelly. Victoria sighed deeply,

"There could be!" she whispered, "Do you really think that the Molochites have abandoned their facility? Anyway, don't forget there are still First-level guards." she paused for a moment, before sullenly adding, "And it's _Victoria_, not 'Vick'."

"Ah yes, First-level guards: conscripts with no weapons. A deadly hazard for people who've faced down endless armies of robots and more." the echidna said sarcastically, before adding, "You're forgetting who _we_ are. We've been doing this for years even before you and G.U.N showed up."

"We're gonna get nowhere arguing. Do we go in or not?" Vector asked, reaching a hand for his headphones out of habit, before remembering he hadn't brought them with him. Knuckles sucked air into his mouth,

"We can't give up a chance like this." he murmured. There was a slight whisper of echoed approval from the others behind him. Hugging the shadows, they moved in, pulling themselves up a crude staircase of rubble onto the concrete-strewn causeway into the Molochite base proper. There was still no one there, and no sound – not even the slightest breeze – could be heard. After what seemed an eternity of silent slinking, they arrived at the metallic wall of the central cylinder. The first thing they notices was that the door was open, the second thing they noticed was that a burly cultist guard lay half-in and half-out of the building, having apparently collapsed on the building threshold.

After a few minuted of immobility and silence from the guard, Tails carefully moved over to him, giving him a nudge with his foot. Still nothing. The kitsune bent down, feeling the Molochite's pulse,

"He's dead." he announced quietly and solemnly to the others. This was met with a stunned silence,

"Wha...how? Do you think another rebel group has got in?" Victoria managed to say after a lengthy pause. Knuckles cracked a knuckle absent-mindedly,

"We won't find out staying out here, let's go in." he said. Vector raised his eyebrows at this,

"Are you sure Knux? Doesn't seem like too good a gig if you ask me." he said. Tails nodded at this, moving back to the group,

"It could be a tra..." he begun. Knuckles shook his head violently,

"If it was up to you guys we'd be staying in the shadows all our lives, and hoping to defeat them by stealing all their supplies of spades! This is the best chance we've got, and if a guard is dead, then that just makes it easier." he spat, moving past them and into the base. He stopped on the threshold, his eyes widening,

"You might want to see this..."

The group made their way over, eyes darting all over for potential guards until they rested on the scene before them. Another ten or so Molochites lay in all directions, having been apparently killed. Violently too, if their mangled limbs were any indication. Without a sound the group stepped into the base proper to get a better look, Victoria reaching for her battered pistol.

The moment they had all stepped in, the door slammed shut behind them with a horrid sound as they sliced through the dead guard. The floor gave a shuddering groan and - with a jolt - it lurched downwards accompanied by a cacophony of gears. The four companions, caught by surprise, were knocked to the floor.

After an eternal minute of descent, the floor lurched again, this time to a halt. Vector picked himself up from the floor,

"What the hell was that?" he groaned, stretching his back. Behind him, the door opened themselves, revealing a large chamber. A calm and clinical voice spoke from nowhere,

"Level 3 – Artefact Analysis."

"The entire cylinder must be some kind of elevator." Tails observed, pulling himself up with a groan.

"_Really?_" Knuckles muttered sarcastically, also pushing himself up. The voice from nowhere piped up again,

"All Science-Priests of the Third-level and above are reminded that the Avenger Project is currently in its beta stage, and should be tested on heathens. On no account should a Science-Priest be inside the chamber while the Project is active."

"There's some place to start. If its classified to Third-level and above only, it must be very important." Knuckles said, moving towards the open doors. Victoria put her arm out to stop him,

"There's something wrong...I mean, why are these guards all dead. What killed them and wh..." she began. Knuckles gave her a hard glare,

"_It doesn't matter._" he growled firmly, pushing past her arm and out into the dimly-lit chamber. Victoria harrumphed,

"A year hiding has really made you reckless!" she muttered angrily after him, half-heartedly following the others after the echidna.

The chamber after the elevator chute was lit only by a few sparing lights, and furnished with nothing more than a single table in its centre. Three corridors branched off from it, one labelled 'A-P & G-T', the other 'E-W & E-D'; and the third 'C-T'. Vector pointed at the sign 'A-P',

"Hey, Avenger Project anyone?" he smiled toothily. Keeping a wary eye out, they proceeded down the corridor, stopping in front of a chamber labelled Gene-Tech. Barely perceivable at the other side of the dark, another chamber resided, with a large sign declaring it to the Avenger Project.

They entered the Gene-Tech room, their eyes wandering over the various machinery that lined the walls until their eyes fell upon three large tubes filled with a darkish red solution. Two of them were empty, but the third contained a misshapen shape, clearly Mobian in origin, but deformed, with extra limbs.

Horrified but also fascinated by this mutated creature, Tails moved closer, reading the pinned paper that hung on the tank,

'**Subject 3 – Mighty**

**Species – Armadillo**

**Solution – Xenarthra AB-3'**

Mouth open with shock, the two-tailed fox moved back,

"Guys? Guys! I think...I think this is Mighty..." he stammered. Inside the tube, the mutated armadillo stirred, almost seeming to respon to his name being called. He opened a shining blood red eye and fixed it onto the kitsune. A second eye opened....and then a third in his forehead and a fourth on his chest. A teeth-lined mouth opened, silently roaring at him. The three armour-plated arms battered the tube hopelessly, trying to break through. Shocked into silence, the four comrades could only watch in a mixture of disgust, fear and pity as Mighty tried in vain to break out. A calm, eerily familiar, and distinctly female voice broke into their thoughts,

"If I was you, I'd get into the next chamber quickly."

They all tore their eyes off the armadillo and spun round. A robed stranger stood in the threshold from the corridor, a circular device held in a cream hand. She waved the device at them, "If I drop this bomb, it'll kill us all." she threatened, her voice staying calm, almost friendly. The heroes all shared a glance, before deciding not to take a chance and moving back into the next chamber. Unlike the Gene-Tech lab, it had no large machinery lining its walls, only a smallish computer and a large transparent cylinder, the kind you often saw with sky-diving simulations.

The stranger all herded them into the cylinder, and -before they could do anything - she activated a lock. As the four watched her move over to the computer, she threw the bomb over her should. It shattered on the metal floor, breaking into multiple pieces.

"It was a damn fake!" roared Knuckles, pounding on the cylinder door to no avail. The stranger pressed a few buttons on the console, and a large glowing crystal descended from above them. Tails squinted at it,

"Hey, wait that's a Cha..." he didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as a bright light engulfed the cylinder and the group disappeared. The stranger watched them vanish, a smile playing on her lips,

"I think that solves the problem, no?" she said to no one. Behind her, a steady dripping of water fell onto the metallic floor.

"I just hope the machine works as well as the cultists claim..."

* * *

_Cliffhangers - because you can._ As ever, don't forget to press that shiny '**review**' button to leave me your thoughts about the chapter or story! ^^


	13. Visions of Confusions

My apologies for the almost 6 whole months of disappearance. Simply put, stuff happened. I'm back though, and will update more frequently. ^^

M2 - Sorry I'm so late with the next chapter. ^^'

Kitty Seville - Thanks! Don't worry, Sonic will come back, just not yet. ^^

* * *

**Visions of Confusion**

They found themselves in a featureless corridor. The walls were stone, smooth and angular, disgustingly clean. Not a noise pervaded the air. From both ends the hallway seemed to simply go on ad infinitum. Vector was the first to speak,

"Wha-" he begun, before being cut off by a voice that came from nowhere and everywhere,

"**Silence."** it sounded metallic and emotionless. Knuckles clenched his fists,

"Who are y-" like Vector, he was interrupted,

"**Silence, and we may begin."**

There was a flash of light and they were standing before the Master Emerald shrine. The emerald, with the Chaos emeralds surrounding it, shone brightly in the glowing sun. A dark green echidna was kneeling in front of the emerald, both his hands lay on the green gem.

Tails moved forward to get a better look, but all he succeeded in doing was crashing into what seemed to be a solid pane of glass. The voice came back,

"**Do not move, audio is being activated."**

There was a crackling of static and the noises of the surrounding jungle came flooding in. The echidna outside the glass began speaking,

_"She's translated them, I'm sure of it." he stood silently for a few seconds, then, as if spoken to, he replied,_

_"No! Please, I can't do that! Please, can't we just trap her or something, but not that." with a shock of unseen force, he flew backwards, crashing down the steps. He pulled himself up, hesitated, and moved back to the Master Emerald, putting his hands back onto it,_

_"Maybe we can just-" the emerald glowed a crimson red, before dimming back to green, "Alright!" the echidna half-wailed, "I'll do it!"_

There was a flash and the group were back in the featureless corridor, away from the shrine.

"**Preparing scene 2."**

A blaze of light, and they were now in another corridor, this one metallic with a door and observation window set into one side. Two people, a cyan cat and red swallow, probably scientists or doctors if the lab-coats they wore were anything to go by.

"**Audio activated." **the robotic voice said. The cat begun speaking at once,

_"-no real progress. His condition is still serious. He's still raving about demons and the ruins down in the jungle, though he's stopped moving." he said. A frown came over the swallow's beak, she looked down at the clipboard stuck by the side of the window,_

_"And his physical condition?" she queried. The cat shrugged,_

_"Still as bad, I'm telling you Dr. Lela, I'm not sure what it is, it's almost like his skin has just...hardened into that shape, a circle, right above the stomach." he answered. Dr. Lela frowned deeper,_

_"Very well, double his drug dosage."_

_"Are you serious!? That could kill him!"_

_"In that case he would've been too weak for our purposes and this research will have been a waste of time and money." the swallow said dismissively, leaving that cat._

An explosion of light, and once more the group stood in the corridor. Knuckles pounded a fist onto the wall, making absolutely no dent,

"That's it!" he roared, "Who are you!? What do you want!? Where are we!?"

The voice came back,

"**Answer 1: I am who I must be. Answer 2: I want to complete my mission. Answer 3: You are where you must be."** it replied, before adding, **"Preparing scene 3. This is the last scene."**

This time, they appeared in a large hall. The architecture was similar to the corridor with the two doctors from before; metallic, lab-like.

_Equipment and bodies lay haggard all over the place, and in the centre of it all was a figure on their knees. The darkness and a cloak obscured the figure from clear sight. The person was convulsing, and hacking blood onto the ground. It slammed a hand into the ground, and with unnatural strength pulled a panel of metal out. The metal shimmered like liquid in its grasp and melded itself into a simple white mask. It grasped the mask with its other hand which was covered in its own blood, leaving a bloody hand print on it, and put it own. Then it shakily stood up._

The scene flashed and the group found themselves – once again – in the original corridor. After a lengthy silence, Tails spoke first,

"Was that-" he began. Victoria finished his sentence for him,

"The hedgehog in Station Square? I think so, it was the same mask." The robotic voice came back on,

"**Program is finished. Activating shut-down."**

Vector held a hand out to the invisible guide,

"Wait! What was all that about!? What is this!?" he cried. Only silence greeted him. Then, like some great screen, the corridor fizzed from existence, leaving the four of them suspended in a dark void. With the suddenness of a firecracker, an explosion of light surrounded them, and they were gone, leaving emptiness in their place.


	14. An Explanation and some Hope

And so once again we grapple with the writer's block, savagely throwing it down a cliff and driving a horde of buffaloes onto it for good measure; and then we deal with the apathy with some good-ole-fashioned music.

In other words, my apologies to everyone (or indeed, anyone) who has been waiting for the next chapter, I've just not had the motivation to write recently (recently being the past 5 months).

Now on with the chapter!

* * *

**An Explanation and some Hope**

When the white light faded, Tails found himself in a cave, overlooking what seemed to be the Mystic Ruins jungle. It was night, and the full moon shone brightly down onto the canopy of trees, and the ruins that pierced it. He pulled himself up,

"You'd better sit, Tails." came a voice. The fox spun round, to see an echidna seated down besides a fire. She was familiar, greatly so. Then it struck him,

"Tikal!" he cried, remembering the echidnan princess from when Eggman had attacked with his Egg Carrier and Chaos. She smiled at him,

"Nice to see you remembered me, but sit, sit! There's much I need to tell you, and little time to explain it all." she said, almost acting like some bustling matron. Tails sat himself down opposite her, watching her through the fire,

"You remember last year, of course." Tikal said matter-of-factly,

"Amy had visions of you. Something about prophecies that Robotnik would die and-"

She cut him off,

"Exactly. You see, when my race first discovered the Chaos emeralds and the Master Emerald in particular, we saw it as a gift from the gods. Here was the answer to our prayers! With the full power of the emeralds we could make it rain, make the sun shine, we could fend back any rival tribe that attacked us, create entire temples," she waved a hand out to the echidnan ruins out in the jungle, "within a few weeks. And so no one really cared where they came from, only what they could do for us.

But I cared, and I tracked down their origin, to the complex where – if _I_ remember last year – you first saw Ivo, and discovered he wasn't dead. But I wasn't the only one to care about where the emeralds came from, by chance I met Ivo and Yanric. It didn't take long for the three of us to become friends, despite my race's xenophobia. Together we discovered an entire mural depicting scenes, some from the past, some we didn't know about. We translated these, and discovered they were prophecies left by whatever beings had made the Chaos emeralds. More so, we discovered that the three of us were actually _mentioned_ in the prophecies!

It soon dawned that our respective destinies would not be good. Yanric, as you know, was destined to be betrayed and killed; Ivo was to be crushed by a robot – a fate he tried hard to avoid – and I, well, my destiny is not yet finished. At first we were all scared, worried of these forces beyond our control, that had somehow predicted our arrival, and now seemed to be predicting our deaths. But we carried on with our translation, and got to the end of the mural, which explained how a 'great destroyer', which they named 'the Great Secret' would ravage the world, but be beaten back. But only if we played our parts. So, we all decided and made a solemn oath that we would follow our destinies as they had been laid out, and help stop the Great Secret as had been predicted.

One day, as I, Yanric and Ivo were by the Master Emerald shrine with the eight Chaos emeralds Co-"

"Seven." Tails suddenly interjected. Tikal was surprised,

"Sorry?"

"There are only seven Chaos emeralds."

"There _were_ eight. But as I was saying, one day when the three of us were at the shrine, Copan, a warrior who had been seeing my hand in marriage, found us. He was furious at what he saw as a betrayal, and attacked Yanric. In the battle, the eight emerald was knocked off its pedestal, and the Chaos energy within, due to its proximity to the Master Emerald, exploded, disintegrating Copan, and giving the three of us immortal life. That too had been prophesied.

When my father Pachacamac, the Chief of our Tribe, heard, he ordered that the emeralds be removed from their shrine. But this went against the Pact that the tribe had maid with Chaos, the shrine's protector; and so Chaos destroyed then entire tribe out of fear for the Chao under his protection. When he came to kill me, I – still full of Chaos energy from the blast – fell on the Master Emerald, and was sealed within.

I was trapped in there for centuries, until, learning how to manipulate the Chaos energy, I could send visions to people – as I did when Ivo had his Egg Carrier, and as I did last year."

"But what does this have to do with anything?" Tails asked, stretching his arms.

"When we read about the coming destroyer, the 'Great Secret', we imagined he would be some monster from the Chaos dimension – that's the dark void Ivo showed you – and that he would break through, like he almost did before Ivo's death." the echidna shifted,

"What we didn't expect, was that it would be _created_. Moloch-Ba'al, the demon that now rules over Mobius, is an artificial construct, two creatures merged into one. On one side, the demon from the Chaos dimension, Belial, on the other side, a Mobian. The group know known as the Molochites started off as a scientific group that experimented on the effects of excessive Chaos energy on Mobians. They discovered Moloch-Ba'al in the jungle, still weak from his transformation, and took him in for study. But all the Chaos energy simply made him stronger and stronger until he destroyed the lab. Some of the remaining scientists, believing him to be a god or suchlike, worshipped him."

"We saw his power in Station Square!" Tails cried suddenly, "He melted a building into lava with just a wave of his hand! How are we supposed to stop that?"

Tikal grimaced, answering,

"What you know as Moloch-Ba'al is simply two creatures stuck together, a creature from the Chaos dimension, and a Mobian. Therefore it has twice the weaknesses-"

"And twice the strengths!"

"-and can be beaten, like anything else. The combination of the naturally-twisted mind of the Chaos demon, and the Mobian – twisted by the drugs and Chaos energy given by the scientists – has made him think he's a god, here to exact justice on Mobius. Of course, most the population would say he's more of a devil, but to every devil-"

"There's a god. So what? We need to somehow find a god?"

"Or make one. Moloch-Ba'al was created by Chaos energy, so can any other 'god'." Tikal rose, starting to move out of the cave. She gave a last look over her shoulder, and a smile,

"Have hope, Miles Prower. You already where one emerald is."

* * *

So yeah, this is just an explanation chapter, y'know, one of those boring ones -_-. As always, if you've had the courage to read this far, please, please, **please** click on that shiny 'Review this Chapter' button and tell me what silly mistakes I've probably made, or really, whatever you think of the story so far.


	15. A Perilous Escape

Daggnabit! I WILL finish this story! I'm not going to make any more promises of increased updates, I've made them too much and broken them too often for them to have _any_ credibility, but I will promise that I shall finish this story by hook or by crook!

Cstan – I won't answer your questions due to not wanting to reveal spoilers, but I can confirm Shadow will play some part in the story. As for Amy and Rouge, well they're in this chapter, though it probably won't answer your questions yet.

* * *

**A Perilous Escape**

She awoke to the sound of chanting. For what seemed like a long while she lay there, listening to the chant. It was...beautiful. A song mixing sorrow with happiness, like a slave sad at his enslavement but remembering when he was free and his hope for freedom once more. She felt like she was falling down, down into a peaceful sea, surrounded by the calming chants that drifted from the window.

The window! All of a sudden she was wrenched out of her sea of calm and thrust into an ocean of fear as she remembered all that had happened, the pyramid temple, the cultists, the cultists! The ceremony! The blood! She retched at the sheer memory of it but nothing came up, how long had she been asleep? The chanting had stopped, leaving way to awful silence as she fought to get the sudden memory of the taste of blood out her mouth.

_'Ok, Amy, calm down. Calm, calm, CALM! You just need to calm yourself and get your bearings' _the pink hedgehog thought, gulping down a sob and looking round, She was in a spacious stone apartment, there seemed to be no door, but there was a window. She was sat on a lavish bed, there was a table and chair with a plate of fruit, rugs and tapestries lay around or hung from the walls. She wondered where she had seen such things before. In a flash she remembered, she had seen a similar room in a book on old echidnan life, this room seemed to be based on the apartments of the ancient echidnan empire.

_'Ok, how about that window?'_ she stood up shakily, weak from hunger, and made her way over to it. As she took in the sight she suppressed a gasp. The window looked out across a sprawling stone city, completely underground. Lights hung from the cavern ceiling, shining down like a multitude of miniature suns and illuminating all the various streets and alleyways of this underground world. On the far side of the great cavern she could make out a pyramid that jutted out from the buildings below. The fear rushed back in and she fell to her knees as she realised that was the temple they had performed their sick ceremony on her and the others.

_'The others, where are they? Are they also in rooms?'_ Her train of thought was interrupted by a smart rapping that seem to come from the wall opposite her. Amy's fear rose even higher as she desperately looked for a weapon, she clutched the chair and drew faced the wall the knocking was coming from. A section of the wall slid open, revealing two figures. One was a cultist completely covered by a crimson robe so that not an inch of skin could be seen, though the lumps in their back indicated wings, the other was a swallow wearing what seemed to be a tattered lab coat. It seemed to have streaks of blood on it.

"Stay back!" Amy screamed shrilly. The swallow sighed,

"Good you're awake. I am Dr. Lela. How do you feel? Have you eaten yet?" she queried. She gave a glance at the plate of food that had been left on the table, "Not even touched. Really, milady, you must eat." she made a gesture to the robed figure, and they closed the door, sealing the three of them in. "I insist that you eat, milady." the swallow said deliberately loudly. She glanced at the robed figure who nodded.

"What do you want?" Amy stuttered. The swallow put a finger to her beak, indicating that she should be silent. The robed figure took off its hood, revealing a bat,

"Rouge! Wha-" Amy began to exclaim, but was stopped by the aforementioned bat stopping her by covering her mouth.

"We haven't got time Amy. Any moment now the explosives I've set will blow the temple sky-high, or at least, ceiling-high. When that happens we have one chance, one chance to escape. If they catch us they'll cut us up, little by little," she grimaced, "I've seen what remained of a traitor who got punished that way, and I can assure you, hon, that it's not a nice way to go."

Amy nodded, cowed into silence. Rouge pulled her to her feet as Dr. Lela put a fist to the wall, causing the hidden door to slide open once more.

A large explosion rocked the building at that moment. Amy glanced out the window, but couldn't see the temple. It was obscured by a billowing cloud of dust and debris. Rouge's explosives had gone off. Bustling people hurried through the streets below towards the no doubt damaged pyramid.

"Go!" Rouge cried, flicking her hood back on. Lela grabbed Amy's wrists, leading her out the room. The trio hastened their way down a long stone corridor, passing robed cultists hurrying down the other way to see what had occurred at the temple, ignoring the fact that Amy was no longer in her chamber. "It's not too far, we can get a passage to the surface." Rouge whispered to Amy. Three gongs rang throughout the city, echoing off the walls. Dr. Lela stopped in her tracks,

"They've released the others!" she hissed. Rouge cringed,

"You mean they're already-"

"Yes, Amy's only safe because I was assigned to her." The pink hedgehog in question shook her head,

"What are you on about? What-" she mumbled, overwhelmed by events. She was hushed by Rouge, who pulled her into an alcove as several Molochite guards marched past."The guards aren't as unobservant as the priests." Rouge breathed, "Keep an eye out for them."

"But what does it mean? The gongs?" Amy hissed.

"It means, hon, that we need to hurry. The others will realise you've been freed and hone in on you. We don't have long." Rouge explained briefly.

"Just count ourselves lucky that Moloch-Ba'al's busy in Central." Lela murmured, motioning for the two others to follow her. They progressed unhindered into a large chamber. It was empty save for a pedestal and several metal doors sealed with valves. Rouge slammed the large metal door shut behind them, and she moved over to one of the other doors,

"If we can just get into the tubes we'll be safe." Rouge explained, grunting as she tried to turn one of the valves, "Lela, give me a hand." The swallow moved over, and the two began to try and unbolt the door. It was then Amy heard the footsteps. First they were just a low beat over the straining off the bat and swallow to open the door. But they were getting louder.

"There's someone coming!" Amy wailed, cowering on the floor besides the pedestal; this long ordeal had reduced the normally sassy hedgehog to a passive mess. Rouge swore loudly, pulling harder on the valve. It began to move with a loud creak. The footsteps could now be heard throughout the entire chamber, obnoxiously loud. Then they stopped.

Right. Outside. The. Door.

The exit door Rouge and Lela had been occupied with slowly began to creak open.

Then the entrance door exploded. It flew straight off its hinges, landing with a crash against the wall, smashing the bricks and showering dust everywhere. In the doorway stood an Arctic wolf, holding a large gun-cannon, still smoking for the blast. Rouge gave a thin smile,

"Shane, my dear. Shouldn't you be doing your little daily propaganda transmissions? The faithful will get lost without your silky words." she said sardonically. Shane gave a feral growl,

"Silky words would be your speciality!" he snarled, "I didn't want to believe it. When I found those explosives of yours I convinced myself that you wanted to help clear the ruins of Westopolis for colonizing-"

Rouge gave a boisterous laugh,

"_Really?_ Perhaps you're less intelligent than I gave you credit for!"

"I _was_ a damned fool! You ensnared me with your oily words and blinded me and now the Grand Temple stand in ruins! And just before we started the ascension-head! And to think I-I-I actually-"

"Loved me? My poor Shane, did _you _actually think _I_ could love a deluded individual who follows a religion that has caused more deaths so far than every other war combined? Not to mention, your annihilation of G.U.N. means I _won't_ get paid. Nothing personal, just business."

"And you, Dr. Lela, one of His first disciples, and now you abandon our Master?"

"I saw what they did to the other Chosen. I saw the destruction of Station Square. All that death. But it taught me something; pretending that the slaughter of three large cities full of people is justified for some 'greater good' is something only the insane like you can do Shane. Moloch-Ba'al is no god. He's a Mobian we found in the jungle. Cowardice and fear of death led me to worship him, but no more." the swallow said calmly. Shane gave a low growl. He directed his gaze at Amy,

"Move away from these two heretics, milady. No harm will come to you." he said, forcing calm into his voice. The time it took him to say this was enough for Lela to pull out a small pistol from her lab coat. Shane saw her from the corner of his eye and spun round to fire his gun at her, but the swallow was too quick, firing a well-aimed shot that pierced his left arm. Rouge snatched Amy's wrist, yanking the hedgehog through the doorway,

"Lela! Come on!" the bat screamed. The swallow moved to follow the two, but Shane had got back a hold of his weapon, firing it straight at her. The blast caught her straight in the chest. She didn't go flying, she didn't scream, she didn't have time to. The blast just tore straight through her, leaving a gaping hole. Rouge gave a dry gasp. Lela's weapon went skittering along the floor and landed at her feet. The bat picked it up and levelled it at Shane,

"You won't escape you know. We'll get you and then I'll enjoy seeing you k-" Shane began, pointing the gun-cannon at her.

"Fuck you." Rouge said simply, firing the pistol. The bullet caught Shane straight between the eyes. He stood with a shocked expression on his face for a few more seconds, blood trickling down his face, before Rouge fired four more shots into his chest, and he collapsed dead. The bat gave a last, saddened look at Lela's corpse, closing the swallow's eyes in respect. The renegade scientist had been her only friend and sane companion during the year she had spent trapped amongst the cultists. Shouts and the sound of boots against stone could be heard. More people were coming, she needed to-

The entire wall suddenly exploded, showering bricks everywhere. Rouge shielded herself with her arms, diving to the ground. Several Molochite guards stood on the other side of the destroyed wall, holding the same gun-cannons that Shane had had. Rouge took in a deep breath, trying to calm her sudden fear. She leaped for the door behind which Amy still sat fearfully. The Molochites rushed after her. The bat tried to pull the door shut, but the cultists grabbed the valve, slowly pulling it back. Behind the bat, Amy's eyes met with one of the guards, flashing briefly red.

The entire squad let go of the door suddenly, causing it to slam shut and the valve to spin shut.

Rouge let out a sigh of relief,

"We made it. We made it." she breathed. She pulled Amy to her feet, "Come on, I know where we can go, there's a certain President who'll be glad to see us."

"Yes," Amy said quietly, glancing towards the metal door behind which the Molochite city lay, "We'd better move and...see the President."

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As ever and as always, please review, review, review. Erm...I'll be grateful?


	16. Labs and Armadillos

Cstan - Right, everything will be explained in the next few chapters...just remember that 'few' isn't a clearly defined number ^^'. Thanks for reviewing!

Zero Harmony - Thanks! ^^ That means a lot to me, I try to make my stories original and to avoid cliché plots, even if, as you say, the plot gets strange at times ^^'.

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**Labs and Armadillos**

They found themselves back in the large cylindrical machine within the Molochite base. There was a hiss as the door slid itself back open. Tails found himself – like the others – in a heap on the floor. He picked himself up, rubbing his head. He had a pounding headache,

"Anyone else feel like someone hit them in the head with a hammer?" Knuckles groaned.

"Gah, it's like a hangover, only without the fun of actually drinking." Vector complained. Tails sat there, rubbing his head and racking his memory for something. He had this deep, nagging feeling that he had forgotten something important... The migraine began to clear, it seemed to be a temporary side-effect of the machine. What did he need to remember? Let's see, they had been ushered in by that mysterious stranger – he glanced over to the control panel of the machine, the broken remains of the bomb were still on the floor, confirming the existence of whoever had intimidated them into here; after that they had seen some random scenes, scientists, labs, deaths and then...Tikal! He remembered it all in an instant. Tikal, she had told him how to defeat Moloch-Ba'al, they needed to collect the Chaos Emeralds!

"Guys!" he cried, drawing Knuckles, Vector and Victoria's attention, "I know how to defeat Moloch-Ba'al..." he explained to them the vision from Tikal that he had had.

"So." Vector said, "All we need to do is collect the Chaos Emeralds? And how are we going to do that? With G.U.N. gone they could be anywhere."

"There's one already." Victoria pointed out, motioning up to the green gem above them that was connected to the machine, "But how do we get it down?"

"Are you joking?" Knuckles growled. He moved over to Victoria, pulling her gun out of its holster. Before anyone could protest, he aimed it up and shot at the machinery besides the gem. The Emerald shifted slightly, Knuckles twice again, severing it from the electronics. The green Emerald fell down, clattering onto the metal floor.

"Are you mad!" Tails hissed, "What if you broke something? We could all die! It could blow up, or transport us to god knows where! Or worse!"

Knuckles shrugged nonchalantly,

"Well what do y'know? It didn't. But maybe we should move out of here before it does anything like that."

"Knuckles, one of these days, you'll-" Tails began angrily,

"_Tails._" Knuckles growled, fixing Tails with a glare, "One of these days you'll fail to seize an opportunity and it'll cost you - and probably us - much."

Vector coughed, trying to inject some calm between the two,

"Er, people? Perhaps we _should_ move out of here, in case it _does_ blow up."

Knuckles sighed, taking his eyes off the two-tailed fox and moving past Vector and Victoria, leaving the cylinder, still with Victoria's pistol. Vector gave Tails a half-hearted apologetic shrug , he reached for his headphones before once again, with a wistful expression, realizing that he had left them back at the rebel base, and then followed the echidna. Victoria rolled her eyes, picking the Chaos Emerald up and going after the crocodile. Having left the cylinder, Tails examined the remains of the bomb that the mysterious individual had used, it had indeed been a fake. He wondered what she had wanted. He thought perhaps she had been on Tikal's side, forcing them into the machine so that he could meet her, but this wasn't definite. And there was still the question of what had killed the guard outside? Why had every cultist save for those of the First-level – who were little better than conscripts – been recalled to the 'Grand Temple'? What was the Ascension-head, and why did it require most of the Molochite forces? His head began to pound again from speculation. Had the strange woman killed the guard? Or was there perhaps even a third faction? Why was an important Molochite base like Station Square left near-abandoned in favour of attending this Ascension-head?

The sound of glass smashing brought him out of his thoughts. His head snapped up as he turned to the sound of the noise, it came from the next room, a reddish liquid seeped in from the threshold. The next room, that was where-

"Mighty! He's in there! He must've got out!" Vector cried. Right on cue, the armadillo appeared in the doorway.

Whatever the Molochites had done to Mighty, it had had the effect of mutating him freakishly. He had grown an extra arm that extended from his left shoulder, added to this were two extra eyes, one in his forehead, one on his chest. Furthermore they were no longer the cool blue they had been, but a shining red. His teeth had grown like fangs, his nails had extended into claws, ripping through his gloves and shoes, shredding them. The claws on his extra arm almost resembled knives in their length. His plates had grown haphazardly, no longer straight and groomed, now twisted jagged, sharp. He moved on all fours, with his extra arm hanging in the air, claws ready for the attack.

"M-Mighty?" Knuckled stammered, his previous coolness stolen by the sight of his ex-friend turned traitor in all his now-mutant glory. The armadillo mutant's head swivelled round to face him,

"RRRrrenge..." he growled, eyes fixed on the echidna, unblinking,

"C-Can you understand us?" Victoria queried hesitatingly. The mutant didn't even spare her a look, keeping his eyes fixed on Knuckles.

"Mighty? Can-" the red echidna began.

"RRRREVGGE!" Mighty snarled. He launched himself at Knuckles, claws ready to slice into the echidna. The guardian's training kicked in, and he threw himself to the floor, letting Mighty sail over him. Victoria's gun skittered out of his hand, sliding away across the floor. The mutant landed on the cylinder's clear walls, and before gravity could pull him down, he propelled himself off again, this time at Vector. The crocodile didn't have enough time to react, and Mighty barrelled into him, knocking the two onto the floor. Vector just had enough time to snatch two of Mighty's arms and stop them from clawing into him. He struggled with the mutant, using one of the armadillo's arms to block the third arm just in time as the claws swiped within an inch of his neck. Mighty had a look of pure feral fury on his face, his jagged teeth showing as he snarled and growled.

"Tails! Get to the panel and get ready to lock the cylinder!" Knuckles yelled, picking himself off the floor. He motioned Victoria over, the ex G.U.N. soldier hesitated, before comprehension flashed in her eyes and she ran over. The two grabbed a hold of Mighty, and with collective force threw him into the cylinder.

"Now!" Knuckled shouted to Tails. The kitsune engaged the lock at once, the cylinder's door sliding shut and with a hiss bolting itself in place before Mighty could escape. The four of them watched him for a few seconds, breathing heavily as they calmed themselves. Vector pushed himself up,

"What did they do to him?" he whispered,

"Who knows?" Knuckles said dismissively, striding over to the exit, "It doesn't matter. We need to move out."

"We can't just leave him here!" Vector protested. The echidna spun round, facing his reptile friend,

"And what do you suggest we do then? Put him on a leash and walk him around! Ask him _really nicely_ not to attack us? Or perhaps you're forgetting he's the _traitor_ who caused Espio and Sonic's deaths?" he snapped. Vector looked taken aback,

"I...I suppose you're right..." he said sheepishly, glancing sadly at Mighty who was clawing futilely at the sides of the machine.

"He seemed like he was trying to say something." Victoria suddenly interjected, "Renge, or revge, something like that."

"I think he- I think he was trying to say 'revenge'." Tails said, "He...probably still blames us for Eggman's death."

"Can he even remember it in that state?" Vector pondered sadly.

"Let's move!" Knuckles called irritatingly from the next room, "We should check for any equipment we could use. They might have Chaos Emeralds in other labs."

The three of them glanced briefly at each other, before following the echidna through to the next room, taking care not to step in the red liquid that had flowed out of Mighty's now-broken tank, they didn't want to find out what it could do.

The four of them made their way back the central chamber which lead to the elevator. There were still two corridors they could explore, one labelled 'E-W & E-D', the other labelled 'C-T'. Knuckles, still fuming, didn't wait for a group consensus, and took corridor labelled 'E-W & E-D', the other three were forced to follow him, they couldn't split up, what if there were still guards, or other dangerous experiments? The hallway led down to a large lab, devoid of life, but filled with echidnan artifacts.

"This must be what they've been digging for." Tails said, "Echidnan ruins and artifacts."

"What for though?" Vector wondered,

"Maybe they were hoping to emulate the echidnan control of Chaos energy?" Victoria suggested.

"Hey!" Knuckles called over to them. He was in the next room. They moved over to him, and stopped in their tracks. On the other side of the chamber was a huge mural, echidnan in nature, depicting Chaos-

"This is from the Mystic Ruins, isn't it?" Knuckles asked. Tails nodded,

"It was in the temple, but why did they bring it over to here?"

"There's a clipboard here." Vector noticed, picking a clipboard stuffed with papers off a table, "It's some scientist's report, look here;

**'We have finally isolated the account of Chaos' attack from the explanations of the echidnas' Chaos technology. Most interestingly, the explanations describe using Chaos Emeralds to power weaponry in a way much more efficient than the Robotnik-process, it should even be possible to power the full strength of the ARK with only four emeralds if the machinery were adapted. Full analysis sent to C-T.'**" he read, "C-T? Chaos Technology?"

"At any rate, it proves that the Molochites wanted to rediscover the echidnas' control over Chaos energy." Tails said.

"They mentioned the ARK, do you think-" Victoria asked,

"That they want to use it? Well they do have control over most of Mobius, so I imagine they could get to it easily. But what would they use it for, destroying the world?" Knuckles said,

"These are insane blood-cult people. They'll probably see it as joining their god." Vector grimaced,

"Except that their 'god' is already among them." Tails countered, "The scientist might just have been using the ARK as an example."

"It doesn't matter at the moment. If C-T is Chaos technology then they might possibly have a Chaos emerald over there, they'd need one to use Chaos energy." Knuckles interrupted.

"Well there's nothing more here, we should check it out." Vector agreed. The four of them moved out, moving back to the central chamber and from there to the C-T labs.

The Chaos Technology labs were a hive of electronics and wires, snaking out from beeping machinery, with tubes across the lab within which a lightning bolt would streak through every few seconds, or computers that would go a grinding noise, then go completely silent. It resembled very much some futuristic laboratory, not the sort of place in which the antique technology of a near-extinct race was examined and cannibalised into new machinery for the cultist cause.

"Don't touch anything." Tails warned, "We don't know what any of this does, but it's probably not too safe."

"Over there," Victoria pointed, "Behind the mass of wires, I think I can see an emerald."

They peered through the mass of machinery, she was right, behind a tangle of wires lay the red Chaos Emerald. It was on a pedestal linked to a computer. Vector moved in, scaly hands grasping it. With a barely-audible grunt he wrenched it off the machine. He turned to the others,

"So we have the red and the green Emeralds, that's good so far." he grinned, holding the red Chaos Emerald up. Red light suddenly bathed the room from the ceiling lamps as sirens began to blare. The same calm voice from the elevator arose above the blare,

"Self-Destruct initiated. The colony will be cleansed within five minutes. All personnel evacuate at once. All Science-Priests abandon their projects at once. Repeat: Self-Destruct initiated. The colony will be cleansed within five minutes..."

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I think it says something about me that I started this chapter by talking about avoiding clichés, and ended it with one -_-'. As always, please, please do review with your thoughts!


	17. Self Destruct and a Plan

Cstan – Truth be told, I hadn't even thought about Gerald Robotnik when I wrote Legacy. I only realised that there was no way Gerald could be Eggman's grandfather until way afterwards. I guess it would be that Gerald is indeed Eggman's descendent who Eggman claimed was his grandfather to avoid revealing the prophecy. ^^

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**Self-Destruct and a Plan**

They had just enough time for Vector to say 'Wha?' before instincts kicked in and the group reacted.

"Let's move!" Knuckles cried, spinning round on his heel. Overhead, the speakers blared out the calm voice of the woman, calming announcing the countdown until the base was 'cleansed'. Tails, and Victoria followed suit, with Vector bringing up the rear, still holding the red Chaos Emerald. Running full-pelt, it didn't take them long to get back to the central hub that led to the elevator.

"_Four minutes until cleansing."_

Victoria led the way into the elevator, and Tails followed. It was then that Vector caught sight of the Gene-Tech lab, and the once-friend once-armadillo still caught inside it.

"Wait!" he yelled, "We can't leave Mighty here!"

As was often the case when the subject of Mighty was brought up, Knuckles was the first to answer,

"Leave him behind! He's a traitor, remember!"

"Knuckles! We can't abandon him to die!"

"Dammit Vector! He killed Espio! _Espio!_"

"But-"

"Fine! You go back and save your _murderer_ of a mutant friend! Don't blame us when the two of you are-"

"Get in here dammit!" Tails shouted, getting uncharacteristically angry. Knuckles spun round, entering the elevator. Vector hesitated for a while.

"_Three minutes until cleansing."_

With that sombre reminder of what was to happen, the crocodile gave Mighty a last, saddened look and then entered the elevator. Tails punched the buttons, and the machinery lurched into life with a terrible grinding of gears. With what seemed to be terrible slowness, the elevator moved up. It took perhaps an entire minute, but it felt like two.

"_Level 1 – Entrance and Pers-" _the voice was cut off by the next dreaded countdown, announcing in the same voice as the elevator's, "_Two minutes until cleansing."_

The moment the machine had stopped, the group moved, leaping at the door where the severed torso of the Molochite guard still remained where the door had sliced it off from the lower body when it had closed.

"How do you open this!" Vector yelled.

"There must be a button somewhere or a sensor or _something_!" Tails replied. The four of them began searching high and low, but there was nothing but a smooth metal wall. There were no buttons, no obvious sensors, no way to open the door.

"Damn! Why can't they just have handles?" Knuckled groaned, slamming a fist into the door in frustration. There wasn't even a dent.

"Here!" Tails suddenly cried. He had stooped down to inspect the dead guard, and found a tag around his neck, engraved with the word 'Door-Level 1'. He waved the tag in front of the door but it failed to open. He repeated it slower this time, nothing still. "Damn." he swore, flinging the tag at the door. The moment the two metal objects made contact, the door swung open.

"_One minute until cleansing."_

"Get out!" Victoria yelled, leading the way out of the base. The wasteland that was Station Square stretched before them, flamboyant in the dying red sunlight. The group hurtled down the rough rubble staircase that led to the cluster of metal cylinders that was the Molochite base. Barely had they reached the end that the citadel exploded in a ball of fire and noise.

"Down!" Vector cried, throwing himself behind a wall of rubble as metal debris came hurtling in all directions from the explosion. Rubble tumbled down the stairs, falling like rocks in an avalanche. For minutes all they heard were roaring flames, rock falling down onto rock and metal slamming into concrete. They were dimly aware of an occasional hiss of a piece of shrapnel flying overheard, but kept their heads down and so couldn't see.

Finally it died down.

The four of them popped out from behind the wall all at once. Where the Molochite citadel had stood now stood a crater strewn with rubble. The entire structure had been destroyed.

"Mighty..." Vector murmured sadly. There was no way the armadillo could have survived that.

"Yikes." Tails gulped, looking down. The concrete wall they had taken refuge behind had several jagged pieces of metal embedded in it. Without the wall they would have been torn to shreds.

"That was too close." Knuckles said, wiping the sweat from his brow and sitting back on a piece of rubble to breathe.

"Agreed," Victoria said, "But the question now is; what activated the self-destruct?"

"It went on when I took the Chaos Emerald off its pedestal." Vector said sheepishly, glancing down at the red emerald still in his grasp.

"It didn't happen the moment you took it off." Knuckles stated.

"It'd make no sense that they'd link the self-destruct to removing the Chaos Emerald. What if they needed to remove it themselves?" Tails pondered.

"Well then they'd probably turn the sensor off or whatever." Vector said.

"Either way, we didn't see anyone on the way out, so they either escaped out before us, or they were still inside – at which point there's_ no way _they've survived." Victoria said, jerking a thumb to the destroyed base to emphasise her point.

"No point worrying about it now," Knuckles interjected, "The question now is; where are the other Chaos Emerald?"

"What if there was one still in the base!" Vector suddenly exclaimed.

"Damn! I hope not."

"Heh. Those things are indestructible anyway."

"Yeah, instead we just need to pick through the mass of rubble for an emerald that's probably buried deep underneath it all."

"We're doing no good standing here worrying." Victoria interrupted, "We need a plan of action."

"We have two Chaos Emeralds, we still need five." Tails said. Victoria took the green Chaos Emerald out from her satchel, holding it out for them all to see. "We have the red and the green." Tails continued, "But no idea where the rest are."

"The cultists have probably got one at their base in Central City, and another at the main temple in Westopolis." Knuckles suggested.

"I suggest we get to Central. The main G.U.N. remnants are there, they could help us." Victoria stated.

"What if there's still a Chaos Emerald here?" Vector asked.

"We can't be sure of that. Unless you want to spend a month picking over the ruins. Chances are we got the emeralds they had anyway, one for the 'Avenger Project', another in the 'Chaos Technology Lab'. I don't see why they'd have any others there." Knuckles said.

"But if there is one, we'll be stuck in Central City, which is several hours away."

"That's a risk we'll have to take, I suppose."

"Right. Are we all agreed? We're going to Central?" Tails asked. Victoria and Knuckles nodded at once. Vector hesitated again, and then nodded. "Right, we better get back to the hold-out, get supplies and then leave as quickly as possible then, Central's several hours away, night's falling, and I'm willing to bet several Molochite squads are on their way to see what's happened to their base here."

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As ever please, please, please do...you guessed it, review! ^^


	18. New Allies

Cstan - Yep, Rouge and Amy are in Westopolis, Tails, Knuckles, Vector and Victoria are in Station Square, everyone else is gawd knows where.

elblakeo - Thanks! ^^ I can confirm that Sonic will be back in the next few chapters, but I'm not revealing anymore than that.

KekoBean13 - Thanks a lot! ^_^

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**New Allies**

Rouge and Amy emerged into the wasteland that was now Westopolis, a harsh wind blowing through the toppled skyscrapers. The Molochites had devastated the city, indiscriminately destroying anything that stood. The once-populous city was now nothing but a graveyard of half-demolished buildings, and at the centre of it all stood a great twisted structure of metal, the entrance to the Molochite capital underground. Rouge and Amy had emerged from an emergency exit, and so they stood several hundred yards away from the structure and the guards that patrolled on it, keeping an eye out. The cultists had suffered several attacks by ex-G.U.N. troops, or simply by desperate Mobians trying to get food now that the city was in ruins and that any large-scale production of food was controlled by the Molochites.

The Molochites had ravaged the world, they had razed Westopolis, Station Square and Central City, and reports that many other cities in different parts of Mobius had been razed were heard. Most Mobians lived as slaves to the Molochites, while in the ruins of the cities you had groups raiding the destroyed buildings for supplies – whether those supplies were simply to live or to use against the cultists depended on the group. For their part, the cultists had won no sympathy with the Mobians at large, and they were at risk in the ruins if they wandered alone.

"Come on hon. We need to get moving as quickly as possible. There's a G.U.N. helicopter waiting to take us to Central, we need to get aboard before any Molochites find it." The bat pulled the hedgehog out of the tunnel.

"How did G.U.N. hide an airship from the Molochites?" Amy asked, her weak voice barely carrying above the wind.

"It's amazing how many patrols assume a pile of broken blocks has nothing interesting underneath it." Rouge smiled. The bat seemed worse for wear, for the first time Amy had a good look at her in the sunlight and noticed she had prominent bags under her eyes, and any smile she gave seemed forced.

"Come on." Rouge repeated, beckoning the pink hedgehog after her.

The duo climbed over piles of concrete rubble, avoiding shattered glass and jagged metal, occasionally Rouge checked her watch, keeping an eye on the time. They had to get across the city, which though it sounded easy, was much harder now that there was a city's worth of rubble in the way. They climbed and hiked for about a half-hour before stopping for a quick rest. Amy collapsed down on a make-shift bench of concrete. She looked around, seeing nothing interesting. There was nothing but piles of rubble, strewn with rock, metal and glass. A hospital sign lay half-buried in one pile. She shuddered and unconsciously flinched, dread rising in her as she remembered her kidnapping at the hospital in Station Square that had led her to here now. She glanced away quickly, unwilling and unable to keep looking at the sign as memories came back to her.

The two sat in the ruins for a few minutes, then Rouge got up, "Come on, we should get going again." she said. Amy was exhausted, she had been asleep for more than a year, under who knew what sedation, and the sheer pace at which events had unfolded since her awakening had overwhelmed her, she sat still on her seat of destroyed concrete, unmoving. "Amy? Amy, come on!" the bat cried in vain.

"Looks like your hedgehog ain't moving, miss." came a voice from above. Quick as a flash, her reflexes taking over, Rouge pulled out her gun – Dr. Lela's gun – and pointed it up at the newcomer. "Now then, is that a way to greet a friend?"

The newcomer was a grinning purple weasel. He wore a dirt-grimed hat, and a gun in its holster on the belt at his hip. Rouge grinned back at him,

"Well, well, well. Nack the fanged weasel sniper." she said smoothly. Nack took his hat off in an almost mocking flourish,

"At your service milady."

"And what is a sniper-for-hire doing out here?" Nack cocked his head to one side,

"I might ask you the same question. Now, why don't we put that gun down?"

"No offence hon, but the last time we met you tried to shoot me down." Nack grinned at this, showing his one large fang,

"Ah, the good ol' days. But that was two years ago, I was working with Eggman at that time, I'm with G.U.N. now."

"G.U.N.? Why would they work with a disreputable mercenary like you? At least _I_ have class, you've got nothing but a list of failed dictators for references. Hardly the sort of person that G.U.N. would want in its ranks, sweetie."

"Well, let's just say I showed them where a certain someone was, and they appreciated the info."

"I'd have figured you'd work for the Molochites."

"I tried to offer my services, they tried to sacrifice me. I felt less sympathetic for them after that, G.U.N. being the only other group able to pay for my services, I didn't have too wide a choice."

"Am I supposed to believe this?"

"Believe what you want, but hurry about it, the heli isn't going to wait for years." That Nack knew about the helicopter gave his argument some credit, but Rouge didn't put her gun away,

"I don't trust you, Nack."

"And I don't trust you either, now let's move." the weasel beckoned with a hand, turning round. Rouge pulled Amy to her feet,

"C'mon Amy, stop moping and let's move out." The two followed Nack, Rouge still with one hand on her pistol, ready to defend herself if Nack should betray them. The three made their way across the destroyed city, climbing mounds of rubble, circumventing upturned cars, destroyed buildings, caved-in subways, Nack leading, then Amy and Rouge side-by-side behind him.

Eventually they reached what must have been a roundabout, blocks littered the place, with a large pile right on the centrepiece.

"Here we are." Rouge murmured. Nack stopped ahead, putting two fingers to his mouth and whistling loudly. Emerging from under rubble came G.U.N. soldiers dressed in tattered uniforms. They all seemed worse for wear, indeed, it seemed that the people were as shattered as the city. One of the soldiers came up to Nack, giving him a prompt salute, Nack grinned at this.

"Sergeant Kevin, sir. We've got the helicopter ready, just say the word." the man said. Rouge pushed past Nack, leading Amy on,

"Well, come on then." she told Kevin, pointing at the rubble which supposedly concealed the G.U.N. helicopter. The sergeant nodded, barking out orders to the rest of the troops, who quickly and efficiently removed the rubble, revealing a dull black airship that had seen better days.

They all crowded onto the machine, along with Rouge, Amy and Nack, there was the sergeant, five other G.U.N. soldiers, and the pilot, leaving little space for them all to cram into. Without a word the machine took off, pounding into the air, the pilot called for them to brace themselves in case of a Molochite air-attack, and then they were off in the direction of Central City.

The rest of the journey was a daze. Packed like sardines there was little to do but talk about whatever they could, and that soon petered out, there was little to talk about, Rouge was unwilling to discuss her time undercover with the cultists, Amy was unable to, and the soldiers themselves had few stories or news other than the usual Molochite raids and patrols; Nack himself had taken the co-pilot seat, and was napping with his hat drawn over his face. It was only an hour and a half to Central, though it felt like much longer. Soon however they reached the ruins of the capital city. The president's house lay completely bulldozed, and besides in stood a huge metal pyramid, the Molochite base of operations in the city. If intelligence was right, it would be severely understaffed right now, as most of the cultists were back at the HQ in Westopolis. The helicopter touched outside the city, even with less enemy patrols the risk of being attacked was still too great.

Once they had all left the helicopter and stretched their muscles a bit, Kevin radioed HQ. He came back with a smile on his face,

"Our forces are already attacking the cultist base," he explained to the assembled group, "apparently there's not been much resistance, the commander wants us over there at once, he's sent someone to fetch us."

"The Commander?" Rouge asked, taken off-guard; as far as she was aware the Commander had been killed by Moloch-Ba'al.

"The _new_ commander," Nack piped in, "called _Bob._" he emphasised, as though the name banned the man from ever holding the position of Commander of G.U.N. forces.

"Oh," Rouge said, then cleared her throat, "Who's this guide we're waiting for? How long are we gonna wait?"

Nack grinned,

"Oh, I can guess of only two people who could make it from the base to here on foot, in less than a half-hour." he began, "One's dead and buried, and the other...well, remember I told you G.U.N. only took me on board because I showed them where a certain someone was being kept in stasis?"

"You didn't mention they were being kept in stasis." Rouge said.

"Didn't I? Oh well, they were and-" The weasel was cut off for at that point a flash of black zoomed past them, making Amy shout in a mixture of surprise and fright. Several soldiers withdrew their weapons. A black hedgehog stood besides the group, a nonchalant look on his face,

"Hurry up." Shadow said.

* * *

Yay for long chapters with little action! ^^ As always, I'm always interested in hearing your thoughts about the story, so please review!


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